LIBRARY OF CONGRESS, 



Shelf,.-, 



UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 



"THE MORNING COMETH." 



TALKS FOR THE TIMES 



THE LIBRARY 
OF CONGRESS 

WASHINGTON 



BY 



REV. DAVID JAMES BURRELL, D. D. 



|N W 111893.) 



AMERICAN TRACT SOCIETY, 

150 NASSAU STREET, NEW YORK. 



V 



$■/■ 



set* 6 



COPYRIGHT, 

AMERICAN TRACT SOCIETY, 

i893. 



CONTENTS 



Watchman, What of the Night? - -.page 5 

The Pilot of the Fleet - 15 

The Soul's Moorings — 28 

The Children in the Market-Place 37 

Let Us Go On — 47 

A Sensational Gospel 56 

Character Building 67 

Seven Wonders _ 75 

Solomon ; or, a Worldly Wiseman at his Best 83 

Asking the Way 92 

The Work of the Comforter 100 

The Mother of Jesus 108 

Come In, Thou Blessed of the Lord. A New Year's Meditation. 117 

The Testimony of Infidels to the Truth of Christianity 125 

The Church and the People 140 

The Church in the Catacombs 148 

A Busy Man's Blunder 156 

The Baptism of Jesus 164 

The Pharisee's Prayer 172 

The Publican's Prayer 180 



4 CONTENTS. 

Washington's Religion 188 

The Bible being Disposed of, What Then? 198 

The Lost Name 209 

The Old Landmarks 219 

The Least Commandment 227 

Singing as we Journey 235 

The Happy Man 243 

What Makes a Gentleman? 253 

Darkness at High Noon 260 

What Christianity Has Done for the Workingman 268 

Shall We Know Each Other in Heaven? 277 

We Beheld his Glory 287 

Judas Iscariot; or, the Flower, Fruit, and Ashes of Sin 296 

Ahab's Harness 304 

The Song of the Vineyard 312 



"The Morning Cometh." 



WATCHMAN, WHAT OF THE NIGHT? 



" The burden of Dumah. He calleth to me out of Seir, Watchman, 
what of the night? Watchman, what of the night? The watch- 
man said, The morning cometh, and also the night: if ye will 
inquire, inquire ye: return, come." Isa. 21:11, 12. 

Ours is probably the one lost world of the universe. 
There are hundreds of millions of worlds floating in the 
sea of infinite space, and it may be that multitudes of them 
are inhabited ; if so, the probability is immense that not 
one of those orbs has ever swerved from its moral orbit. 
Sin is abnormal, unnatural. Sin is the sad prerogative of 
the human race. It is the trade-mark of this world of 
ours. If things transpiring here are known to the inhab- 
itants of other spheres, the story of our disaster must be 
told among them as a weird, uncanny tale. It must be 
incomprehensible to beings who have not lost their inno- 
cency as children of God. 

It was an awful thing when sin entered into this world, 
and death by sin. When God created it he said, This is 
very good. The pride with which an artist looks upon 
his master-piece is but a faint token of God's satisfaction 
with his perfect work. And all his sons shouted for joy. 
When he created man he breathed into his nostrils the 
breath of a divine and immortal life; and thenceforth, so 
to speak, he expected great things of him. If all the hopes 



6 "THE MORNING COMETH. 

which fond fathers are entertaining for their children, if 
all the dreams of loving mothers looking down into the 
cradles of their little ones, were bound in one, they could 
but faintly shadow forth the purposes which were in the 
divine heart with respect to the newly created race. 

Then came the fall. We sometimes speak of it lightly. 
Perhaps the controversies of the ages have taught us lev- 
ity. The secular press is wont to speak facetiously of the 
eating of the forbidden fruit and to quote jocosely the old 
New England rhyme : 

" In Adam's fall 
We sinned all." 

But oh, beloved, it was no slight matter when the world 
swung out of its orbit. We mourn when a ship goes 
down. Our hearts ache and tremble when the famine and 
the pestilence sweep over a neighbor land. What then 
must have been the responsive thrill in the celestial worlds 
when it w r as known that the newly peopled earth had 
passed into the dark shadow of spiritual death ! It was as 
if the noonday sun had suddenly gone out. Hope and 
noble purposes and aspirations all ceased, as birds hush 
their songs and fold their wings at twilight. The earth 
was enveloped in night. 

Night is the time when mists hang over the valley 
and miasms rise from stagnant pools. Night is the time 
when bats rustle their leathery wings and vampires suck 
their fill of life. Night is the time when beasts prowl in 
the forests and the hyena pursues its ghastly quest among 
the tombs. Night is the time when the pestilence stalks 
abroad, when vices come out of their lurking-places, 
when bestiality reels through the streets hiccoughing 
its bacchanalian songs. Night is the time when infants 



WATCHMAN, WHAT OF THE NIGHT? 7 

wail, when the sick turn upon their restless beds and cry, 
" Would God it were morning !" when wives and mothers 
press their anguish-stricken faces against the window- 
panes and hearken for the sound of uneven steps. Night 
is the time when from upper chambers comes the sound 
of rattling dice and laughter like the crackling of thorns. 
Night is the time when the spark gleams under the lintel 
of the door unhindered. Night is the time when Catiline 
meets his friends and revenges are plotted. Now silence 
reigns unbroken save by the foot- fall of the guardian of 
the peace. Now is the harvest home of sin and ignorance, 
of disease and death. 

How appropriate that the reign of unrighteousness 
which began with our federal head should be character- 
ized as night. The race began its life in a garden* It 
passed under sentence of death out through the gates to 
grope and suffer and toil. Its happiness was a dim 
memory, a regretful dream. So utter and universal was 
this moral declension that God is represented as looking 
down from heaven to see if there were any that wrought 
righteousness, and sadly saying, " There is none that doeth 
good, no, not one." 

On the walls of Zion the watchman paced to and fro. 
And out of the deep darkness came the inquiry, Watch- 
man, what of the night ? Is it fair or foul ? What is the 
promise of the dawn? And the watchman said, The 
morning cometh, and also the night ! That is, the shadows 
of the night are vainly struggling with the advancing day. 

I. Stars of promise. It was a glorious thing to be a 
watchman under the old economy. Though the world 
was shrouded in darkness the skies above were studded 
with the harbingers of day. 

It was never God's purpose to leave the world in its 



8 "THE MORNING COMETH." 

estate of sorrow and death. No sooner had Adam fallen 
than the protevangel was uttered, " The seed of the wo- 
man shall bruise the serpent's head. ,, That was a bright 
star " flaming in the forehead of the morning sky ;" nay, 
rather, it was a constellation, Draco sub Christo, a 
mighty one with a wounded foot pressed upon a writh- 
ing serpent's head. In it was the prophecy of the glo- 
rious day. 

Out on the heights of Moab where sacrifices were wont 
to be offered to the Sun-god, a prophet of evil sought to 
curse the chosen people. Cursing was in his heart, but 
God had laid a finger on his lips. Down below were the 
tents of the wandering nation. " How goodly are thy 
tents, O Jacob," cried he perforce, "and thy tabernacles, 
O Israel ! They shall be spread forth as a garden by the 
river-side. Blessed is he that blesseth thee and cursed is 
he that curseth thee." Once, twice, thrice did he vainly 
try to pronounce the curse ; then his eyes were greeted 
with a strange vision. He saw one drawing nigh dimly 
through the darkness, in regal splendor, and he cried, "I 
shall see him, but not now; I shall behold him, but not 
nigh ! A star cometh out of Jacob, and a sceptre out of 
Israel which shall govern the nations of the earth." 

Along the bank of the Euphrates journeyed the father 
of the faithful. To him in the long hours of darkness 
were committed the oracles of God. Within the fluttering 
curtains of his tent were the hope and promise of the uni- 
versal church. Again and again, when his heart failed 
him, God led him out under the mighty canopy of the 
heavens and said, " Behold, so shall thy seed be ! So shall 
be the multitude of those who shall seek righteousness 
and honor the true God." 

Thus in the long night of that economy of shadows, 



WATCHMAN, WHAT OF THE NIGHT? 9 

the stars were kindled one by one until the oracles, like 
the glowing arch above, were radiant with them. 

11 Look how the floor of heaven 
Is thick inlaid with patines of bright gold." 

It was the province of the watchman to direct the thought 
of the fallen race to these day-stars of promise, these 
harbingers of the approaching Christ. He stood upon 
the walls of Zion and cried, The mists and shadows scat- 
ter with the dawn; the night lingereth, but the day Com- 
eth ! 

II. Daybreak. The darkest hour is just before the 
dawn. There was a period of four hundred years be- 
tween the old and the new economy when all the stars 
were overcast in gloom. All open vision ceased. Men's 
hearts failed them for fear. 

The first gleam of the morning was seen in far-away 
Persia by men bending over old parchments whereon 
were cabalistic signs and tokens. A new star in the 
heavens led them to the place where the Christ-child lay. 
The air was filled with singing— songs of the angels, of the 
tremulous lips of old prophets, of the virgin mother, of 
souls waiting for deliverance. Again all the sons of God 
shouted for joy. It was as when by the original fiat the 
darkness of chaos was scattered and the light shone upon 
the earth. 

" God said, Let there be light ! 
Grim darkness felt his might 

And fled away. 
Then startled mists and mountains cold 
Shone forth all bright in blue and gold 
And cried, 'Tis day, 'tis day!" 

If it was glorious to be a watchman under the old econo- 
my, how much more to walk with the incarnate Jesus and 



10 " THE MORNING COMETH. 

say, Behold the Lamb of God ! His life was as the morn- 
ing sun shining into the habitations of cruelty and the 
shadowy vale of death, yet how few there were that com- 
prehended the glad tidings or knew that the long looked- 
for Golden Age had come. In polar lands, when the weary 
winter is drawing to a close, the people climb the hill-tops 
and wait for the approaching dawn. And when the crim- 
son forehead of the sun is seen above the horizon they call 
in joyous greeting from hill- top to hill-top, " O beautiful 
Sun ! O beautiful Sun !" How few there were to greet 
with joy like this the rising of the Sun of Righteousness 
who had healing in his beams ! He came unto his own 
and his own received him not. The light shone in dark- 
ness and the darkness comprehended it not. 

III. The Sun hastening to the zenith. If it was a 
splendid privilege in the olden time to point to the stars 
of promise, if it v/as a joy during the earthly ministry of 
Jesus to direct men to the grace of God shining in his 
beautiful face, how much more glorious is the privilege of 
the watchman now to stand upon the walls of Zion bidding 
the world behold how the sun shines brighter and brighter 
unto the perfect day. " Watchman, what of the night ?" 
The shadows struggle with the dawn ; nay, the day break- 
eth ; nay, better still, the high noon of truth and right- 
eousness draweth nigh. We preach not the Christ of 
prophecy, nor yet the Christ infleshed and walking among 
men, but the historic Christ who has vindicated his love 
and wisdom and omnipotence in eighteen centuries of tri- 
umphal progress. 

We are living in an unfortunate time for pessimists. 
The bulk of religious prosperity was never so great since 
the foundation of the world. The signs of religious prog- 
ress all around the horizon are so conspicuous and con- 



watchman; what of the night ? 1 1 

elusive that fault-finding at this juncture must needs sug- 
gest an impairment of the biliary or digestive functions. 
The arm of the Lord is gloriously made bare for the over- 
throw of iniquitous strongholds and for the upbuilding of 
the kingdom of righteousness. Nations of the earth are 
prostrating themselves before the Lord Christ. The flocks 
of Kedar are gathered together and the rams of Nebaioth 
are ministering unto him. The air is full of the rustling of 
doves' wings and the crackling of the boughs of Lebanon. 
(Isa. 60.) 

(1.) In the matter of Faith. There never was a time 
in human history when men were so loyal to the land- 
marks of truth. There never was a time when the blessed 
Bible was entrenched in so many faithful hearts. True, 
there are controversies. God be praised ! The worst 
that ever can befall the Christian Church is stagnation. 
The kingdom of God is not likely to suffer from any in- 
vestigation of its truth. To be sure, there are heretics 
and schismatics. They perish by the way and their work 
serves but to strengthen the battlements of truth, as coral 
insects toiling in unknown depths leave their bones as a 
contribution to the continents of coming ages. The truth 
had never so many stalwart friends as it has this day. 

(2.) As to Christian Ethics. Ideals are higher than 
ever. Character means more. The character of Jesus 
stands out more distincdy as the Exemplar of morals. 
His incomparable portrait is the touchstone of character. 
More is expected of men than ever before in human his- 
tory. More is expected of kings, of politicians, of mer- 
chants, of the average man. Compare the dignitaries of 
our time with those of a few centuries ago : Queen Victo- 
ria with Elizabeth, the President of the French Republic 
with Louis the Grand, Gladstone with Machiavclli, Presi- 



12 "THE MORNING COMETH. 

dent Harrison with our Continental governors, the citizen, 
the country gentleman, the ordinary church-goer or the 
non-church-goer with those of a hundred years ago. I 
say the ideals are higher and men are more eager in stri- 
ving after them. There is more respect for common hon- 
esty, for chastity and temperance, for benevolence. Many 
of the vices that were common have disappeared from 
public view. Human life is held in higher veneration. 
Profane swearing is vulgar now. Gambling is for the 
race-track and locked chambers. It was once a common 
thing for gentlemen to be dragged from under their tables 
to their beds. Now public inebriety is ruin to any public 
man. Baccarat, that would have been regarded as a mere 
peccadillo in Prince Hal, is a standing horror against the 
present Prince of Wales. Loosenesses that once were 
common at royal courts are now banished to the slums. 
Our home-life is sweeter and purer. Fathers have a more 
reasonable tenure of authority. Wives are more beloved 
and respected. Childhood is granted its proper rights. 
The vices of society are more decent and its virtues more 
conspicuous. In most quarters character is the passport 
into social life. Silly, sensual beauty is little thought of. 

" The rank is but the guinea stamp : 
The man 's the gowd." 

So is it in industrial life. The workman is at the top. He 
is a self-respecting, honest man, " who knows his rights, 
and knowing, dare maintain." He claims an honest day's 
wages for an honest day's work. At the same time 
the rights of capital are held securely; and the controver- 
sies of Capital and Labor are drawing to a settlement 
under the beneficent influence of the Golden Rule. We 
note a similar advance in political ethics. Freedom is 



WATCHMAN, WHAT OF THE NIGHT? 1 3 

contagious. Kings are held in restraint. The word Peo- 
ple is written with a capital initial. Legislators rule in 
equity and courts administer justice in righteousness. Star 
chambers and bloody councils are antiquated landmarks. 
Wars are giving way to arbitration. The masses are 
being educated. Milton's Angel of Light is waving his 
torch along the remotest confines of darkness. " Watch- 
man, what of the night?" The sun rises higher and high- 
er : it shines brighter and brighter unto the perfect day ! 

(3.) And what shall be said of the great propaganda ? 
Our own is the Golden Age of the Kingdom of God. 
We are building churches, hospitals, reformatories, at 
home ; and we are stretching the cords of the tabernacle 
to the remotest parts of the earth. The recent census of 
the United States tells us that one-third of our entire 
population is in organic connection with some religious 
body. Was the like ever known since the foundation of 
the world ? One in every three — men, women, and chil- 
dren — an avowed seeker after the true God ! Other na- 
tions are being similarly blessed. The gates of the Dark 
Continent are being thrown open to the light. 

It was but a hundred years ago that William Carey 
sat in his cobbler shop in Northamptonshire, his attention 
divided between the lapstone on his knee and a map of 
the world hanging on the wall. He said, " There is gold 
to be mined in India. I will go down after it if you will 
hold the ropes." He sailed for that pagan land a hun- 
dred years ago, went down into the mine, and souls have 
been responding to that deed of consecration, born out of 
Carey's travail, in countless multitudes — gold minted in 
the heavenly treasury and stamped with the image and 
superscription of our King ! Oh, friends, everything is 
going right. The nations of the earth are coming unto 



14 "THE MORNING COMETH. 

our God. " Watchman, what of the night ?" There is 
no night ! The darkness is past and gone, the Sun of 
Righteousness hath risen with healing in his beams ! Be 
glad and rejoice, O people of God; the sun shineth 
brighter and brighter unto the perfect day ! 

It is a joy to be a watchman in these times. When the 
Bastile fell there was a controversy as to who should have 
the privilege of opening the dungeon doors. How much 
more shall we strive for the privilege of bearing the truth 
and the glad prophecies of life to those who still are en- 
veloped in shadows ! What a joy to draw the bolts and 
say as to those bewildered souls of the Bastile, who for 
years had not heard a human voice nor seen the shining 
sun, " Come forth ! The day is bright, the air is clear, the 
earth is glorified with the beauty of the Lord ; come out 
and rejoice with us !" Oh, friends, let us rejoice together. 
The sun shineth brighter, brighter, brighter, brighter unto 
the perfect day ! 



THE PILOT OF THE FLEET. 1 5 



THE PILOT OF THE FLEET.* 



" Their line is gone out through all the earth and their words to the 
end of the world." — Psa. 19:4. 

A polyglot psalter in the Astor Library is enriched by marginal notes made 
by the Bishop Justinian of Corsica. Opposite Psalm 19:4 is written, " Columbus 
boasteth that he is appointed to fulfil this prophecy." 

Our God is the God of nations. The path of history- 
is lined on either side with the ruins of thrones and dynas- 
ties. God reared them and God overturned them. At a 
time when we are singing the praises of Columbus as the 
discoverer of the new world it is wise to remind ourselves 
that he was controlled by the sovereign God. He was 
indeed entitled the Admiral of the Ocean Seas ; but while 
it is important to know the full measure of his achieve- 
ment, it is far more important to inquire who piloted his 
fleet. 

In our inquiry as to the special providences which the 
most casual observer must detect in the romantic story of 
the discovery of the new world, the theme falls naturally 
into a three-fold division : The time, The man for the time, 
The man's Master. 

I. As to the time. Is it not a curious fact that for so 
many centuries a continent should have been held in re- 
serve ? It was suspected, dreamed of, but never known. 
Why ? Was God holding it for the exigencies of the 
future, for the enlargement of Zion ? It could not be dis- 

* This sermon was preached by Dr. Burrell on the four-hun- 
dredth anniversary of the discovery of America by Columbus. 



l6 "THE MORNING COMETH. 

covered. The opening up of that continent was not to 
occur until the right moment. All things in divine prov- 
idence occur when the hands of God's dial point to the 
fulness of the time. 

This event occurred in the morning twilight that fol- 
lowed the Dark Ages. It was an era of universal awa- 
kening. 

(i.) It was marked by a general revival of learning. 
The best blood of Europe had been vainly poured out in 
the Crusades. Vainly ? Armies of indomitable men had 
marked their pathways through the deserts with bleaching 
bones. For what ? God reigns and overrules all things 
for ultimate good. The remnant of those devoted armies 
brought back from the Orient some of the learning of the 
East. It has been asserted by authority that not one priest 
in a thousand in Spain could write a letter of greeting to 
his friend. In England things were scarcely better. The 
Bible was a sealed book. A few learned scholars in the 
monasteries sat poring over their old parchments and illu- 
minating their breviaries while the people, rude and igno- 
rant, were starving for the living bread under the shadow 
of the sacred walls. But the darkness was broken when 
the Crusades brought Arabia into contact with the 
West. 

One day in 1430 Lawrence Coster, a Dutchman in the 
sleepy old town of Haarlem, went out with his children 
along the towpath for a day in the country, to hear the 
birds sing and breathe a little of God's fresh air. In the 
beech grove he paused and cut his boy's initials. And 
there a happy thought occurred to him : " Why not carve 
letters in wood, ink them over, and make an impression 
on paper?" A happy thought! It was a sun-burst. 
That was the birth of the printing-press. Books began to 



THE PILOT OF THE FLEET. 1 7 

multiply. The Bible came into the market for 750 crowns. 
Light began to shine into the hearts and consciences of 
the people. 

(2.) This period is also characterized as the day- 
break of freedom. With the revival of learning it was 
inevitable that the individuality of man should struggle to 
rise. 

The Pope's heel had been upon the neck of the king, 
and the king's heel had been upon the necks of the 
people. The Anglo-Saxon world had groaned under 
despotism. 

On June 15, 1215, in the meadow at Runnymede the 
great charter was signed. It is commonly known as the 
fundamental instrument of civil freedom. As you look 
upon the old parchment now in the British Museum, you 
are struck with two peculiar facts ; one is that the barons 
w r ho exacted that instrument from King John were, for the 
most part, unable to affix their own signatures ; they 
could only make the sign of the cross ; the other is that 
no mention is made of the people. Magna Charta was in 
the interest of the barons. It was a mighty stride towards 
a glorious achievement, but it was only the first step. As 
yet there was no thought of the rights of man as man. 
Two centuries went by and the people were still the un- 
recognized masses, their rights still trampled under foot, 
but the Giant under ^Etna was groaning and struggling to 
uplift himself. Men were beginning to make their per- 
sonality felt. The people were claiming somewhat of 
their own. The Anglo-Saxon world was congested with 
vast populations which were jostling each other for elbow 
room and clamoring to be free. 

(3.) This was also the birth-time of the Reformation. 
There had been a long night of a thousand years. All 



18 "THE MORNING COMETH. 

sorts of vices hid behind the altar. There was a famine of 
the Word of God. The Bianchi wandered about with 
great crucifixes murmuring Misericordia I Flagellants 
went two and two along the thoroughfares chanting Mis- 
ereres and scourging their naked backs. The mendicant 
friars were in their glory. This was the golden age of 
penance, Peter's pence, indulgences. Heaven was opened 
with a golden key. The most scandalous sins could be 
committed for a shilling. The world was burdened with 
an idle, avaricious, and dissolute priesthood. This was 
the period of the Inquisition, the rack, the thumb-screw. 
Autos-da-fe were kindled on all the hills. Men walked 
to the stake dressed in yellow gowns, wearing caps where- 
on were painted black devils. Queen Isabella was the 
patroness of the Inquisition. Torquemada was its high- 
priest. The ashes of Wycliffe were thrown upon the 
Avon, the Avon bore them to the Severn, and the Severn 
to the sea. The Church was shrouded in darkness. No- 
where had there been an open Bible or freedom to wor- 
ship God. 

The time had come for the opening up of the new 
world. The continent which God had been holding so 
long in reserve was now to offer a shelter to his oppressed 
people. The vine of Israel needed to be transplanted. 
The place was prepared where it might take deep root 
and fill the land, that the hills might be covered with the 
shadow of it. (Psa. 80 : 8-1 1.) 

In one of the visions of the Apocalypse a woman is 
seen clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, 
and upon her head a crown of twelve stars. With her 
child she is pursued by a great red dragon. She flees 
into the wilderness, " where she hath a place prepared of 
God." It is a parable of the Church of the Reformation, 



THE PILOT OF THE FLEET. 1 9 

guarding the pure gospel of Christ, pursued by the de- 
mon of persecution and finding shelter in the new world. 

" Westward the course of empire takes its way. 
The four first acts already past, 
A fifth shall close the drama with the day ; 
Time's noblest offspring is her last." 

II. The man for the time. It is proposed at this junc- 
ture to canonize Columbus, and there seems no good rea- 
son why a Church that has seriously discussed the cano- 
nization of Queen Isabella and Torquemada, patroness 
and bloody Father of the Inquisition, should hestitate to 
place Columbus in her calendar of saints. It is not my 
purpose to stand as Advocatus Diaboli to present objec- 
tions to sainthood. That were to strain out a gnat and 
swallow a camel. It would be an easy matter to find fault 
with him, but at this juncture it is far better to dwell on 
the brighter side of his character. And there is much to be 
said in praise of his illustrious name. He was a man chosen 
as an instrument in divine providence to penetrate the mists 
that hid the unknown continent of the Western sea. 

(1) I pay tribute to his faith. It had been brought 
to his notice that an oar had been picked up by a sailor 
on the waters near the Canaries, an oar marked with 
strange hieroglyphics. It had floated from the west. 
There was, then, a world out yonder. This was the basis 
of his creed. It was corroborated by Plato's story ot 
Atlantis, and by tales told by the Carthaginians of green 
islands in the west. A book called Imago Mu?idi is 
still extant, with annotations in the margin made by Co- 
lumbus, and in which Roger Bacon expressed the opinion 
that it was not far from Spain to Asia. Two bodies had 
been seen out upon the open sea, strange-looking bodies 



20 "THE MORNING COMETH. 

with bronzed faces such as were seen in India. The man 
put this and that together and said, Why may we not 
reach India by sailing into the west ? 

This was his creed, " India in the west." He be- 
lieved it. A man with a creed is always a mighty man. 
According to thy faith be it unto thee. They are foolish 
folk who cry down creeds. Credo is a great word. Be- 
lieve something if you would be anything. A man in 
the industrial world must have his creed, his five points 
as true and stubborn as the five points of Calvinism, to 
wit: honesty, industry, self-control, courage, and perse- 
verance. A man must have his creed in political life. He 
must know what he believes as to tariff, the suffrage, and 
sound currency. And the line of belief here marks the 
difference between a demagogue and a statesman. A man 
must have his creed in social life. 

" Whene'er you feel your honor grip, 
Let that aye be your border." 

Why not also have a creed in religion? Faith is the basis 
of ethics. As a man thinketh in his heart so is he. What 
do you hold as to the great verities ? as to God, redemp- 
tion, immortality, and judgment ? Tell me and I will tell 
you what sort of a Christian you are. The whole life of 
Columbus was moulded by the revelation that came to 
him by that floating oar. " India in the west." It was 
half right, half wrong, but he wholly believed it. " If 
yonder," said he, " is the new world, I will find it." 

(2) I pay tribute also to his persistence. He went to 
his townsmen of Genoa and told them how he proposed 
to find India by sailing to the west. " The man is crazy," 
said they. He found his way to the Spanish camp where 
Ferdinand and Isabella had marshalled their armies to 



THE PILOT OF THE FLEET. 21 

drive out the Moors. Vainly did he push his project 
there. No time had they nor treasure to expend upon an 
empty dream like that. Years passed. Friendless and 
poverty-stricken, he knocked at the door of the Convent 
of La Rabida to beg a crust and a cup of water for him- 
self and his boy. To the Prior he imparted his project of 
reaching India by sailing to the west. Said Father Pe- 
rez, " Possibly there may be something in it." Ageing 
and whitening, he found his way to the Council of Sala- 
manca. There learned doctors and scientists gathered 
about him. Maps and charts were spread upon the ta- 
ble. " The earth is round," said he ; " why may it not be 
circumnavigated?" But they answered, " If the earth is 
round, why do not the waters fall from the under side ? 
And if the earth is round and you reached the antipodes, 
would not sailing home be like climbing a hill ? If the 
earth is round, what about those Scriptures which tell how 
God stretched out the heavens like a pavilion ?" No, no, 
the suggestion of heresy was here. The years pass on. 
He finds his way to the Alhambra. The Moors have 
been driven out. He begs again for royal patronage, but 
in vain. He is riding away with a sad heart when a voice 
calls and a hand beckons. He turns back. Isabella has 
changed her mind. " You shall have your fleet ; I will 
pledge my jewels." His eighteen years of waiting are 
over. How the old man's heart must have leaped for 
joy ! All things come round to him who will but wait. 

What a lesson for faint hearts ! Is there a man here 
who has faithfully pursued a project for years and years? 
Cheer up, friend ; all things come round to him who will 
but wait. Are some of you discouraged because of your 
slow progress in the Christian life ? Be of good courage. 
Line upon line, precept upon precept, makes character 



22 "THE MORNING COMETH.' 

at last. One step at a time, it only our faces are turned 
to the heavenly light, will bring us at last to heaven's 
gate. 

(3) I pay tribute also to his courage, his indomitable 
courage. The eventful day has come. Three caravels, 
two of them undecked amid-ships, are swinging in the har- 
bor of Palos, mere cockle-shells, of possibly a hundred 
tons' burthen, worm-eaten, and quite unseaworthy. And 
they are to sail out upon the unknown seas. The crew is 
disorderly. They would not sail but that they have been 
impressed to go. The canvas is set, the anchors are 
raised, the Prior of La Rabida lifts his hands in blessing. 
" Sail forth, O little fleet ! Breathe upon the canvas, O 
breath of Jehovah ! give a favorable voyage !" 

Then fifty-seven days of monotonous voyaging. There 
are calms and gales, alternate hopes and disappointments, 
and mutterings among the crew. A broken mast floats 
by, memorial of some shipwreck, enough to awaken fears 
of mutiny. Here is seaweed floating on the water. A 
flock of paroquets flies past. There is land somewhere. 
One day the cry is raised at evening, Land ! land ! The 
next morning dispels the illusion ; they are still out upon 
the open sea. At the bow stands Columbus looking out 
towards the west. Surely God has something for a man 
of courage like this. 

It was on the twelfth of October, after the twilight had 
gathered, that, as he stood gazing westward, he saw a 
light, a flickering light. There are those who say it was a 
torch carried by a woman along the shore as a signal for 
her husband, returning after a day upon the sea in search 
of food for his little family. At two o'clock the next 
morning the gun was fired to signalize the end of the 
journey. At sunrise they make ready to disembark. 



THE PILOT OF THE FLEET. 23 

Yonder lies a green, sun-lit island. They land. Co- 
lumbus kneels and takes possession in the name of Jesus 
Christ. The land reserved for centuries is found at last. 
San Salvador it is christened under the banner of the 
Cross. Land of the Saviour may it ever be ! The light, 
the torch which was carried along the shore that night, 
has grown brighter and brighter ever since. It is uplifted 
to-day in the hand of Liberty — Liberty Enlightening the 
World. 

God has a similar reward for every courageous man. 
It is the old story of the quest for the Golden Fleece, the 
search for the Holy Grail. It is the story told over and 
over again in every passing age of the sailing forth in 
discovery of truth. God has no San Salvador for stay-at- 
homes. He who borrows his dogmas from the symbols 
of the Fathers, who is satisfied with what heredity and 
environment have given him, will never come into posses- 
sion of truth. Revelations are for those who sail be- 
tween the Pillars of Hercules. You want to know about 
the great solemnities : sail out into the west. There are 
revelations of truth, priceless and incalculable, in the haze 
of the western seas. But in going out in quest of truth 
heed your Pilot, pay deference to the needle that points 
to the Pole-star, and unless you would be a wild rover of 
the seas, be obedient to your chart, the blessed Bible, the 
revealed Word of God. 

III. The mart's Master. Who piloted the fleet ? 

At this point we note a signal providence. The land- 
breezes, the floating seaweed, and other tokens of not far- 
distant land had moved the crew to earnestly implore 
their captain to change his course; but he persisted. He 
believed that India lay to the west, and westward he 
sailed on. At length, however, a thorn-bush floated by 



24 "THE MORNING COMETH. 

with berries on. Its direction suggested that land lay to 
the southwest, and yielding to the persistent entreaties of 
his men, he changed the course of his fleet that way ; and 
thereby he changed the course of history. Had he sailed 
to the westward he would have landed on the coast of 
Florida, and the continent would have fallen in the hands 
of the Spaniards. As it was he landed on San Salvador. 
Columbus never set foot upon the soil of what is now the 
United States of America. Had he taken possession of 
the mainland in the name of Ferdinand and Isabella, our 
land would have been doomed to a Spanish civilization 
and all its attendant horrors. What those would have 
been may be plainly seen from the condition of Spain 
itself, Mexico, and the South American Republics. It was 
a hairbreadth escape. Columbus was indeed the Admi- 
ral of the fleet, but the Sovereign God was at the helm. 
He conducted the great navigator near enough to the con- 
tinent, but not too near — near enough for the uses of dis- 
covery, but not near enough for settlement. Columbus 
died in utter ignorance of the true nature of his discovery. 
He supposed he had found India, but never knew how 
strangely God had used him. 

The mainland of America lay practically unsettled for 
more than one hundred years. In this interval strange 
things happened. The Church was rent asunder. The 
Unreformed and the Reformed branches set out upon di- 
vergent paths. Luther nailed his ninety-five theses to the 
door of the Castle Church and sent the echoes of the Ref- 
ormation reverberating around the world. Shakespeare 
lived ; Galileo lived. The great Armada was wrecked. 
The bells tolled out the massacre of St. Bartholomew. 
The Duke of Alva hurled the forces of the Inquisition 
vainly against the dykes of Holland. That was a won- 



THE PILOT OF THE FLEET. 25 

derful century, and all the while God was manifestly pre- 
paring for the settlement of the new world. It could not 
occur until he spoke. In vain did the Papal nations seek 
to possess it. De Mont sailed up and down the New 
England coast, but the savages kept him off. The decree 
had gone forth ; this was to be a Protestant land. It was 
to be a shelter for the woman and her child. The Red 
Dragon could not possess it. At length the time was 
come — 1 620 — A?i nits m irabilis ! 

Then they came, the sifted peoples of the old world, 
the stuff that heroes are made of, Puritans from Old Eng- 
land who had resisted the fires of Smithfield, Huguenots 
from France, who had heard from their fathers about St. 
Bartholomew's Day, the " beggars " of Holland, racked 
with fierce struggle against tyranny, the Covenanters of old 
Scotland from their conventicles among the hills. That 
migration to the new world was the most momentous the 
world had known since Abraham departed out of the land 
of the Chaldees into a country that he knew not of. God 
had fanned the threshing-floor of all Europe to find this 
w r heat for the planting of America. This was the land 
whereon the ultimate problem of civilization and ec- 
clesiastical freedom was to be brought to a glorious con- 
summation. Men of independence, integrity, intelligence, 
industry, courage, and broad-mindedness, men schooled 
by flame and scourge, men who hated oppression and 
believed in human rights, were needed for it. Poor, but 
independent, not frilled and powdered, but armed might- 
ily with the sword of the Spirit, and with purpose of free- 
dom pulsating at the very centres of their hearts — these 
were the men whom God had chosen for the settlement 
of this land. For a hundred years he had kept the 
new world waiting until they should be ready to possess it. 



26 ''THE MORNING COMETH." 

This delay meant everything for us. It meant, 

(i.) Freedom. In all probability there would have 
been no semblance of freedom had Columbus colonized 
the mainland. Not one of the nations springing from 
Spanish conquest and fostered under the pretensions of 
the Papal See has enjoyed the rights and privileges of 
popular government. In the cabin of the " Mayflower," in 
mid-ocean, a constitution of the new settlement was drawn 
up, its opening words — " In the name of God, Amen," 
and its closing words—" In the name of God, Amen." 
That instrument was adopted and John Carver was 
elected, by ballot, Governor. This was the formal birth 
of the elective franchise as we enjoy it. Out of that con- 
ference on the high seas were born the liberty, equality, 
and fraternity of the new world. 

(2.) It meant Intelligence. To this, Catholic domi- 
nation has been invariably fatal. If Rome could have its 
way at this moment, our free school system would be 
blotted out of existence. It is a notable fact that the three 
nations who effected the original settlement of America, 
the Dutch, the Puritans, and the Scotch, are the three 
contestants for the honor of originating our system of 
popular education. At the same time its only avowed 
and recognized enemy is the Romish Church. There is 
no menace anywhere to this fundamental element of our 
American institutions save as we find it among the fol- 
lowers of Leo XIII. The free school is an Anglo-Saxon 
product, and we firmly believe that God who drove back 
the Catholic Spaniards from our shore will not allow the 
same pernicious influence to destroy the institutions 
planted here. 

(3.) It means, furthermore, a Pure Gospel. We have 
in America an open Bible and a supreme Christ. Colum- 



THE PILOT OF THE FLEET. 2J 

bus sailed in the " Santa Maria " and prefaced the report 
of his discovery with the words Jesu cum Maria. But 
the civilization of America is like the luminous cloud 
which gathered on the Mount of Transfiguration, of which 
it is written that all human figures vanished ; " they saw 
no man save Jesus only." An open Bible, a preeminent 
Christ, and the right of every man to worship God accord- 
ing to the dictates of his conscience — these are the shib- 
boleths of our religious freedom. It has pleased God to 
guard our land from the oppression and superstition 
which have made Romanism a hissing and a byword 
among the nations of the earth. 

So God piloted the fleet. The great discoverer, with 
all his heroic virtues, did not know whither he went. " He 
sailed for the back door of Asia and landed at the front 
door of America, and knew it not." He never settled the 
continent. Thus far and no farther, said the Lord. His 
providence was over all. 

A great inheritance has been committed to us. God 
sent his people, in the olden time, to a land which was 
set apart by sea and desert and mountain from all the 
surrounding world, and they were recreant to their trust. 
They disregarded his Sabbaths, they kindled fires to 
alien gods, and their land with all its fertile acres and fair 
estates became a dwelling-place for the owl and the bit- 
tern. Oh let us be true to the obligations of our great 
inheritance ! God expects great things of us. He hath 
not dealt so v/ith any nation. John Foster says, " Power 
to its last atom is responsibility." God has given us 
broad acres and inexhaustible mines of treasure. Power 
means responsibility. And God has given us civil and 
ecclesiastical freedom, and with it he has laid a mighty 
burden of responsibility upon us. 



28 "THE MORNING COMETH.' 



THE SOUL'S MOORINGS. 



"And God, willing more abundantly to show unto the heirs of prom- 
ise the immutability of his counsel, confirmed it by an oath: 
that by two immutable things, in which it was impossible for 
God to lie, we might have a strong consolation who have fled 
for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us: which 
hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and stead- 
fast, and which entereth into that within the veil ; whither the 
forerunner is for us entered, even Jesus, made a High-Priest 
for ever after the order of Melchizedek." Heb. 6:17-20. 

The Hebrew lad who stood upon the piers of Tarsus 
and watched the white-winged ships sailing in from the 
Mediterranean — who saw from afar the gladness on the 
weather-beaten faces of the crews as they furled their can- 
vas and dropped anchor in the harbor of their Cilician 
home — who looked out over the waters many a time and 
dreamed dreams and saw visions of storm and dismal 
wreck, men clinging to floating spars, white faces amid 
the foam, mists hiding sun and heavens and shore — 
now grown to manhood and familiar with cares and am- 
bitions and the heart-aches of an earnest life, calls back 
his memories of the sea. His soul is as a ship far out 
upon the waters, freighted with hopes and purposes, beat- 
en by storms and swayed by tides, yet kept securely in 
the hollow of His hand who rules tides and tempests 
alike, and ever sailing on towards the harbor of that city 
which hath foundations, whose founder and maker is 
God. 

Blow, ye favoring gales ! shine, thou benignant sun ! 



THE SOUL'S MOORINGS. 2g 

till we, like that Tarsian saint, shall all have reached our 
haven of rest ! 

A ship without an anchor is at the mercy of the ele- 
ments. The chart, the rudder, the well-filled sails, are suf- 
ficient for bright days and calm waters ; but when the 
mists are gathered, the canvas whipped into shreds by 
angry winds, the shattered hulk tossed like a feather and 
drifting helplessly towards the lee shore with its white 
line of angry breakers — what now, Master of the ship ? 
Let down the anchor ! 

" I see the good ship riding all in the perilous road, 
The low reef roaring on her lee, the roll of ocean poured 
From stem to stern, sea after sea ; the mainmast by the board, 
The bulwarks down, the rudder gone, the boats stove at the 

chains ; 
But courage still, brave mariners, the bower still remains I" 

As the bower-anchor is_to a ship so is the hope of eternal 
life in Jesus Christ to an earnest man. It maketh not 
ashamed. It never disappoints. In treacherous calms, 
when the tides of habit are tugging at the soul, as well as 
in fierce tempests of trial, it has a sure and steadfast grip 
on the power of God. 

I. Observe, this hope entereth into that within the veil. 
The ark of the covenant with the luminous cloud, the 
token of God's visible presence, was behind the fine- 
twined curtain within the Holiest of All. In like manner 
there is a veil dividing between the things which lie with- 
in the province of the senses and the unseen things which 
are most real and eternal. 

Alas for the agnostic, the man who believes only what 
lies within the reach of his finger-tips, the man to whom 
the great solemnities are all as empty dreams ! My dog 
is an agnostic. Stand up, Fido, and let me reason with 



30 "THE MORNING COMETH."' 

thee ! Dost thou believe in God ? Dost thou believe in 
life and immortality? His patient eyes are saying as 
plainly as August Comte or Herbert Spencer, "Agnosco, I 
know not ! These things are beyond my sphere of com- 
prehension. Bid me gnaw a bone or chase a pheasant. 
The things which are unseen are too hard for me." 

Oh, blessed be God, we who are made in his likeness 
can by faith apprehend the things which are invisible, the 
sublime verities which fleshly eyes cannot see and hands 
cannot handle, the eternal, substantial things which will 
endure when gold and laurel wreaths and thrones and 
monuments shall have vanished into nothingness! The 
sublimities and profundities lie within the veil. 

God is there. Our hope takes hold of him. We need 
no argument as to the existence of the Divine Being ; we 
know it by the tugging of the anchor-chain. How lonely 
the life of one who holds no communion with Him ! he 
dwells alone, like a man in a dungeon. Oh to feel the 
touch of a living hand ! The soul needs Him, and intui- 
tively reaches after Him, but the sure and steadfast hope 
of the Christian lays hold upon Him as the flukes of the 
anchor grip the everlasting rock. 

The truth of immortality , also, is within the veil. Na- 
ture yields no conclusive proof of it. If a man die will he 
live again ? Ay ! Else whence these " precious hopes, 
these fond desires, these longings after immortality ?" But 
better than all intimations is this strong tugging at the 
anchor-chain. The heart feels it and cries, I shall live 
and not die ! 

The assurance of infinite mercy is within the veil. 
The senses cannot grasp it. We stand this side and 
hear no voice from beyond. Love and justice are ever at 
strife. We lift the veil; lo ! the cover of the ark is 



THE SOUL'S MOORINGS. 3 1 

sprinkled with blood ! God is love. The truth, Christ 
crucified, which to the wisdom of this world is foolish- 
ness, thus becomes to us the very wisdom and power of 
God. 

II. Observe, again, our hope is sure and steadfast, be- 
ing confirmed by two immutable things. We want a trust- 
worthy hope, the interests involved are so vast and 
momentous. The hope of the hypocrite shall perish, it 
shall be cut off; his hope is as a spider's web : " He 
shall lean upon it, but it shall not stand ; he shall hold it 
fast, but it shall not endure." The cunning architect 
builds his beautiful fabric in kings' houses, a masterpiece 
of cunning; but in the morning the housemaid with a 
whisk of her broom sweeps it away. Such is the hope 
based on mere feeling or on empty ceremony or on a falla- 
cious view of the divine goodness or on a formal connection 
with the church of God. But the sure hope of the be- 
liever is held by a double cable, two immutable strands 
of assurance twisted together, in both of which it is im- 
possible for God to lie. 

(1.) His word. " He hath not left us to spell out our 
privilege." The Bible sparkles with promises, exceeding 
great and precious, as the heavens above with stars. 
" Him that cometh unto me I will in no wise cast out." 
" Come now and let us reason together, saith the Lord : 
though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as 
snow ; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as 
wool." " They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their 
strength ; they shall mount up with wings as eagles ; they 
shall run and not be weary ; and they shall walk and not 
faint." 

(2.) His oath. As if his word were not enough, he 
confirms it with an oath ; and because he can swear by no 



$2 "THE MORNING COMETH." 

greater, he sweareth by himself: As I live, saith the Lord ! 
Now and then men say flippantly, " Upon my life !" How 
trivial an asseveration ! A man's life is in his nostrils. 
And how little a matter whether he goes or stays. But 
here is a tremendous oath : As I live, saith the Lord! In 
this is the assurance of our hope. He liveth. What if 
an angel were to appear in mid-heaven announcing with a 
trumpet - blast, God is dead ! What obsequies there 
would be ! What sighing among the forests ! What 
groanings among the tossing seas ! What sackcloth on 
the heavens ! What a panic in the heavenly host ! How 
the everlasting hills would go reeling and staggering back 
to chaos, back to nothingness ! Such a calamity however 
is unthinkable. God liveth, ever liveth, from everlasting 
to everlasting, source and centre of all natural and spirit- 
ual life. Every bird is singing it, every star is telling it, 
every brook is murmuring it, all nature is resonant with it. 
I Am that I Am. And because he liveth, we shall live 
also. Thus doth God secure our hope with a double 
cable, and the anchor holds. 

III. Observe, furthermore, " we have a strong consola- 
tion who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope 
set before us." A strong consolation, a glorious impetus, 
an inspiration. As the mainspring keeps the entire 
mechanism of the chronometer in normal action, so does 
the living hope of the believer direct and control his 
entire life. 

He that hath this hope in Him purifieth himself. A 
hope is futile unless it is vitally interwoven with charac- 
ter. I ask, Are you saved ? You answer, I have a hope. 
Thus too often the hope is a mere certificate of character 
which may be produced upon occasion. You may have 
gone through a train at midnight and have seen the pas- 



THE SOUL'S MOORINGS. 33 

sengers trying, in strained positions, to catch a little 
slumber — here an emigrant, weary with long journey- 
ing, there a mother fallen asleep with a child upon her 
lap. The door opened and the conductor passed through 
calling, " Tickets, please!" They awoke and rubbed their 
eyes, produced their tickets, and settled back again to 
sleep. The Lord deliver us from a Christian hope like 
that ! It must be interwoven with our life. It must 
brighten our eyes and strengthen our arms and nerve our 
hearts for right living. It must make us kinder at home, 
more honest in business, more courteous in social life. 
" The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, 
gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance : against 
such there is no law." 

And more : our hope must lead us on to Christian 
endeavor. It must sing to us like a sweet- voiced sister 
while we are climbing the steep paths. It must urge us 
on to participate in the great work of universal deliver- 
ance, it must save us from spiritual melancholia. 

" Your harps, ye trembling saints, 
Down from the willows take ; 
Loud to the praise of love divine 
Bid every string awake." 

Strong consolation, exhilarating courage, glorious incen- 
tive, splendid inspiration — this must be the outcome of a 
genuine hope of eternal life in Christ. 

IV. Once more observe, the secret of the efficiency of 
this hope is in fesus Christ, " It entereth into that within 
the veil whither the Forerunner is for us entered, even 
Jesus made a High-Priest for ever." Of all the living 
verities which are within the veil none is comparable with 
Christ himself. He is able to save unto the uttermost all 
who come unto him. 



34 "THE MORNING COMETH." 

Here is a reference to the great Day of Atonement 
when the High-Priest passed within the veil, not without 
blood, to make expiation for the people's sin. It was a 
solemn hour while they waited without. On the success 
of his mediatorial errand their life depended. And when 
at last — the blood sprinkled, the prayer offered, the an- 
swer given — he came forth into the midst of the camp, 
his face illuminated with a smile of heavenly acceptance, 
with what joy did they welcome him ! 

So hath Christ as our forerunner entered into the 
Holiest of All where he ever liveth to make intercession 
for us. " Up to the high hills we look, whither he hath 
gone and whence cometh our help." Our hope is fixed 
upon him. It is not our hope that saves, but He him- 
self. Let not men have confidence in the saving power 
of hope ; as well let them expect to board the anchor in- 
stead of the ship for a voyage to Liverpool. It is faith 
that saves, and faith only, as the cable that fastens the soul 
to Jesus. As one of the fathers has said, " We are saved 
by our grip on the blood." 

The soul needs this sustaining strength of Christian 
hope not only in stormy seas when the waves and the bil- 
lows are passing over it, but in the routine of daily life. 
The quietness of our still days is all illusory. There is 
nothing common-place in human experience. There are 
no uneventful days. Every moment from sunrise to sunset 
has its Sibylline books. The most monotonous life, if we 
could read it aright, is a struggle, a romance concealing 
in its even flow the plot of an everlasting drama. Never 
does the ship find better use for its anchor than in the 
breathless calm that foretokens the mighty wind ; never 
more than when the placid surface hides the treacherous 
tides which drag us towards the hidden rocks. More 



THE soul's moorings. 35 

souls are wrecked by the under-currents of habit than by 
fierce Euroclydons of trial. How easy to drift, to sweep 
around the swirling circle of custom or popular opinion 
to its devouring centre. " Be not conformed unto this 
world." Let your hope hold you to truth and righteous- 
ness like an anchor, sure and steadfast. This is the Chris- 
tian life — to be in the world but not of it — sailing upon its 
waters yet not circling upon its whirlpools or drifting with 
its tides. 

But oh ! when the rains descend and the floods come 
and the winds blow, then the staunchest ship must have 
an anchor if she would go unshattered through the storm ! 
Trial is the conclusive test of character. Here is a mer- 
chant who has borne the reputation of an honest man all 
these years. Time has dealt kindly with him; he has 
gathered a competency and in the race for riches has 
never brought reproach upon his name. He did run well ; 
who did hinder him ? 

Suddenly the trial comes ; the cords of financial strin- 
gency are tightening around him ; his life-long dreams of 
prosperity are succeeded by a nightmare of impending 
ruin. Now let him look to his integrity. Will it hold 
amid the storm ? A nervous stroke of the pen, a false 
entry, a forged signature, and the emergency is over. 
But alas ! the ship has foundered. The virtues of the 
best moral character, if its morality is not upheld by the 
firm supports of religion, are but as ropes of sand when 
the winds are blowing from the north. We speak of com- 
mon honesty, common morality ; but what we want is 
uncommon honesty, an heroic morality, an integrity held 
as by a mighty anchor-chain to the very heart of God. 

This is the believer's safety. He is guarded by Om- 
nipotence, the everlasting arms are under him ; the sure 



36 "THE MORNING COMETH." 

word of promise is his, " I will never leave thee, the river 
shall not overflow thee, the flames shall not kindle against 
thee." " He shall deliver thee in six troubles, yea, in 
seven there shall no evil touch thee." Being in vital 
union with God, we are as safe as God himself. " Fear 
not," said Caesar to his boatman who grew pale when the 
little craft was shaken by the billows, " fear not ; thou 
canst not sink ; thou earnest great Caesar and his fortunes 
with thee." 

Oh, believer, fear not; the Word of the Lord hath 
spoken it, "I am with thee; be not dismayed. I will 
hold thee, I will strengthen thee, yea, I will uphold thee 
with the right hand of my righteousness." * So for all 
the vicissitudes of life this hope is commended to you, 
a hope that will serve in treacherous calms as well as in 
the sudden storms of life, a hope that will secure the soul 
amid the gathering darkness of life's close and in the daz- 
zling light of judgment. Remember the words of the 
Lord Jesus how he said, " Come unto me and I will give 
you rest" — rest from pain, rest in the ark when the wa- 
ters of the great deep are broken up and the roar of the 
surge is mingled with the cries of the dying and despair- 
ing — a rest which this world can neither give nor take 
away — " rest eternal, sacred, sure." 



THE CHILDREN IN THE MARKET-PLACE. 37 
THE 

CHILDREN IN THE MARKET-PLACE. 



"But whereunto shall I liken this generation? It is like unto chil- 
dren sitting in the markets and calling unto their fellows, and 
saying, We have piped unto you and ye have not danced; we 
have mourned unto you and ye have not lamented. For John 
came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, He hath a 
devil. The Son of man came eating and drinking, and they 
say, Behold a man gluttonous and a w»ine-bibber, a friend of 
publicans and sinners. But Wisdom is justified of her chil- 
dren." Matt. 11:16-19. 

In the problem of history the one constant factor is 
human nature* One generation passes away and an- 
other takes its place with the regularity of ebbing and 
flowing tides ; but the calm current of heredity flows on 
for ever. The dispositions of the fathers are ever being 
handed down to their posterity. You could not under- 
stand why the child recently born into your family has 
blue eyes. They could not be traced to parents or grand- 
parents. You may however remember among the family 
portraits a blue-eyed ancestress who lived far back in co- 
lonial times. The family resemblance of the race is pre- 
served in this way. So when the Lord said, " Unto whom 
shall I liken this generation?" he spoke with no tran- 
sient significance. The lesson of his discourse was in 
the nature of a general truth. It was not more for the 
people of that time than for us. 

The great Preacher, as was his wont, found in one of 
the familiar happenings of common life an illustration of 



38 "THE MORNING COMETH." 

a great spiritual truth. A group of lads at play, acting 
now a mock marriage and again a mock funeral, complain 
that certain of their comrades will not participate in their 
games : " We have piped unto you and ye have not 
danced ; we have mourned unto you and ye have not la- 
mented. " So, says the Teacher, in our broader and more 
earnest life it is impossible to please the whims and hu- 
mors of those around us. 

But " Wisdom is justified of her children." Thank 
God for that ! The understanding of the wise is open to 
the truth. There are always some who are able to see the 
reason and Tightness of things. 

I. Let us apply this principle to the Scriptures. 

The Bible is a severe and heroic paradox. It is the 
two-fold expression of a great religious system. To this 
fact must be attributed much of the opposition which it 
encounters and most of the criticisms which are urged 
against it. 

The Old Testament opens with the story of the Fall 
and the awful penalty passed upon sin: " The soul that 
sinneth it shall die." In the midst of its ceremonial stands 
an altar streaming with blood, a tribute at once to Re- 
tributive Justice and to Redeeming Grace, an announce- 
ment of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world, 
a prophecy of Christ and him crucified. But through all 
and over all the laws and appointments of the Old Econ- 
omy we detect the glow of the flaming mountain and the 
sound of the trumpet waxing louder and louder, until its 
inspired annals close with the admonition, " Lest He come 
and smite the earth with a curse !" 

How does all this commend itself to the children in the 
market-place? Not at all. It is quite too sombre. The 
cry, " Repent ye," is abhorrent to them. To fall in with 



THE CHILDREN IN THE MARKET-PLACE. 39 

its requirements would be like keeping step to the Dead 
March in "Saul." They will have it that " God is Love." 

Well, then, how fares the New Testament with them ? 
Here is a book whose every page is sunlit with divine 
love, beautiful with the ineffable virtues that shone in the 
face of Jesus Christ. It opens with the song, " Glory to 
God in the highest, and on earth peace, good-will towards 
men !" Here is the story of the marvellous Life ; here are 
the discourses of One who spake as never man spake ; 
here is the record of his merciful wonder-working. In the 
midst of this economy stands the Cross, the token of the 
divine overtures of mercy to guilty men. A voice cries, 
" Look unto me and be ye saved, all the ends of the 
earth !" And this book of the heavenly grace, its first 
page vocal with the carol of angels, has its last illuminated 
with a benediction, " The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ 
be with you all!" 

And how does this please the children of the market- 
place ? Not in the least. The anthem of Free Grace is 
quite too cheerful for them. Karma is now their creed, 
the Law of Consequences : " Whatsoever a man soweth, 
that shall he also reap." What virtue can there be, they 
inquire, in the shedding of innocent blood? Or what 
value in faith ? The harps and timbrels of salvation are 
quite out of tune with their serious mood. They hold 
themselves peevishly aloof and will not dance. 

Now blend these books of the two economies together 
into one Bible. How splendidly they blend ! Mercy and 
Truth are here met together ; Righteousness and Peace 
have kissed each other! Out of this paradox of fire and 
blood comes the wondrous harmony of spiritual life. The 
children of the market-place must not, however, be ex- 
pected to assent to this. The paradox is to them an irre- 



40 "THE MORNING COMETH." 

concilable antagonism. The book is not a mosaic, but a 
conglomerate. Whether it offer a funeral dirge or an 
epithalamium, they decline in any case to respond to it. 

But Wisdom is justified of her children. They mark 
how the old economy develops into the new as bud into 
blossom, as chrysalis into butterfly, as twilight into the gray 
of morning and then into the full splendor of day. The Old 
Dispensation and the New are the two halves of a pome- 
granate from the King's orchard ; they are the warp and 
woof of one heavenly fabric. Justice and Grace are God's 
two eyes with which he looks towards the focus of salva- 
tion, are God's two hands with which he lifts the world 
into the glory of an endless life. Law and Gospel are the 
two hinges on which rolls back the opening door into 
the Father's house. 

A rose-tree planted in Eden was nourished by Prov- 
idence, cared for by angels, and watered by the tears of 
penitents, until — putting forth the verdure of hope through 
all the centuries — it blossomed at last on Calvary into a 
red, red rose. 

II. Let us make a further application of this thought 
to the Church, Here is a body made up of all sorts of 
people having the common infirmities of the race. Not 
one among them is perfect. Every one of them must 
needs say, " I am not what I ought to be, I am not what 
I would like to be, nor yet what I hope to be, but by the 
grace of God I am what I am." 

Here are many serious folk. The awfulness of sin 
has made a profound impression upon them. They have 
heard, ringing loud and clear from the mountain of the 
Law, the voice of Retributive Justice. They realize that 
the world is full of pain and remorse and shame, and that 
it will presently be set on fire. The Judgment, " that day 



THE CHILDREN IN THE MARKET-PLACE. 41 

of wrath, that awful day," is ever before them. Life is a 
serious matter to such people and eternity is very nigh to 
them. 

How do these commend themselves to the children of 
the market-place? Do their critics fall in with the slow 
measures of the miserere? Not they. Observe how 
their comments are interlarded with references to Chad- 
band and Pecksniff and Praise-God Barebones. 

But here are merry-hearted people, too. Once they 
sat by the highway-side, blind and friendless, and the 
Lord came that way saying, " Receive your sight !" And 
ever since they have been glorifying God. Why should 
they not ? They live in a pleasant world ; the skies are 
bright, the birds are singing, and heaven's blessing is over 
all. They have a good conscience too ; for they have 
done what they believed to be right in their relations with 
God. The misspent past has been blotted out and 
heaven's gates are opened wide before them. So they go ' 
singing all the day. 

And does this please the fault-finders ? Not for a mo- 
ment. They say, " If these people believed in the tre- 
mendous truths of their religion they could not be so 
merry." So whether we are lachrymose or cheerful, it is 
all one. We cannot please the children in the market- 
place. Now they cry " Aha !" and now " Oho !" They 
will neither lament nor dance to any music which we fur- 
nish for them. 

What is the moral? Let us give little heed to the 
voice of the fault-finder, but endeavor with all our might 
to please God ; " not with eye-service, as men-pleasers, 
but as the servants of Christ, doing the will of God from 
the heart." He is our Lord. To him alone we stand or 
fall. The sum total of our duty, therefore, is to strive for 



42 "THE MORNING COMETH." 

his approval, walking ever as under the great Taskmas- 
ter's eye. 

There are some things which are pretty well estab- 
lished : (i.) The church, made up so heterogeneously of 
serious and gladsome people, is not perfect. To expect 
perfection in that quarter would betray a misapprehension 
as to the definition of the church. It is not a company of 
saints perfected, but of sinners saved by grace. It consists 
not of good people, but of people who desire to be good. 
The very reason of their banding themselves together is 
because they are sensible of weakness. They feel their 
need of mutual prayer and sympathy. They purpose to 
stand by one another and help one another in the spirit- 
ual life. It ought to be expected that their captious crit- 
ics, professing self-dependence, should be more present- 
able outwardly than these. For they have strength 
enough of themselves to get along without this united 
prayer, this fellowship of kindred minds. (2.) Nothing 
better than the church has been developed thus far. This 
is evidenced by the involuntary tributes which are paid by 
outsiders to the life and character of church people. Not 
long ago a flaming headline appeared in one of our daily 
newspapers, " Another Deacon Gone Wrong.'* It 
was a case of embezzlement. Such cases are, alas, too 
common. But the fact that such headlines are ever seen 
is demonstration of the general opinion as to Christian 
life and character. Why do newspapers never fling out 
the headline " Another Infidel Gone Wrong " ? Be- 
cause in such case it is the expected that happens. There 
is nothing odd in the fact of an infidel going wrong, 
nothing sensational in that. The reporter does not care 
for it. The reason why the world cries out against an 
inconsistent church member is because it expects some- 



THE CHILDREN IN THE MARKET-PLACE. 43 

thing better of him. The church contains the best peo- 
ple. No other organization since the foundation of the 
world has ever marshalled so glorious a company of up- 
right men and women, living for the public weal and for 
the glory of God. (3.) The church answers its pur- 
pose. The children of Wisdom are agreed upon that. 
It helps men to escape from passions and evil habits. It 
helps men to build up character. It gives them noble 
employment in behalf of others. It encourages them to 
hope for brighter things as the days pass on. 

The church is like the Spartan phalanx in which com- 
rades were banded together by an oath of mutual devo- 
tion. They marched shoulder to shoulder with shields 
overlapped. They resolutely pushed their way to vic- 
tory, bearing the wounded aloft upon their shields, until 
all found refuge in the citadel together. So are we pre- 
sumed to stand by one another in this blessed fellowship 
of the church. The joints of our harness are pierced by 
many an arrow, but we push on, strengthened by our 
comradeship and confidently hoping to stand some bright 
day together in the great city of God. 

III. The same thought has pertinence with respect to 
Christ himself. Why do the children in the market- 
place so persistently find fault with him ? 

In the olden time a burgher, who was about to cast 
his ballot against Aristides the Just, was reasoned with 
by one who said, " What has Aristides done? Is he not 
a wise and patriotic citizen ? Has he not devoted him- 
self to the welfare of the State ? Is he not the Just ?" 
" Ay," said the burgher, as he dropped the black ballot 
into the urn, " ay, I hate him because he is the Just." 

It is not difficult to see why men, from the standpoint 
of pure reason, should take exception to the Holy Scrip- 



44 "THE MORNING COMETH." 

tures. It is easy to see how any who are so disposed 
may find fault with church members, imperfect as they 
are. But who shall lay anything to the charge of Jesus ? 
The sublimest truths of our religion are but slightly ap- 
prehended and its precepts inadequately fulfilled in the 
best Christian life. But back of all our faults and above 
the company of his fallible disciples stands the Perfect One. 
There is no guile in his heart, no guile upon his lips. 

In the life of the Saviour there are three episodes 
which have been the offence of the ages. His Birth con- 
tains the great mystery of the Incarnation. It was the 
most delightful thing that ever happened in human his- 
tory. Not since the original creation had the sons of God 
so shouted for joy. But those who are disposed to find 
fault can find nothing in this glorious event to move them 
to participate in the merry-making of the children of God. 
His Cross is the symbol of the Atonement. It is a stum- 
bling-block to the Jews and foolishness to the Greeks, but 
to them who are saved the very wisclom and power of 
God. The death on Calvary was the very saddest thing 
that ever happened, and yet it opened the gateway into 
the world of eternal bliss. But whether the music of the 
gospel be a dirge or a wedding march, the children of 
the market-place decline to keep step with it. The Ope?i 
Sepulchre tells of life and immortality. The earth was 
shrouded in gloom, but all heaven rejoiced when our 
Lord took captivity captive and ascended up on high. 
He hath for evermore at his girdle the keys of Death and 
of Hell. 

In these incidents of the wonderful Life we note at 
once the strength and the weakness of the glorious gospel 
of the blessed God. Its weakness is due to the perverse- 
ness of the human heart. But the children of Wis- 



THE CHILDREN IN THE MARKET-PLACE. 45 

dom are strengthened by it with all might in the inner 
man. 

There is an ever increasing multitude of such as see in 
Christ Jesus the chiefest among ten thousand, the One 
altogether lovely. To them He is the very unveiling of 
the person of God. We cannot know God except as we 
make his acquaintance in Jesus Christ. In him the bright- 
ness of the noonday sun is adjusted to the sensitiveness 
of human eyes. He is also the ideal man, the only one 
who ever lived a perfect life. He is for all ages and gen- 
erations the exemplar of character, without spot or blem- 
ish or any such thing, and worthy therefore to be called 
par excellence the Son of man. He is, moreover, a Sa- 
viour. No other has ever proposed to rescue a sin- 
stricken world from the bondage of sin; no other has 
ever claimed to avert the lifted sword of the broken 
Law. 

While John Huss was in. prison awaiting his execution 
he covered the walls of his cell with the name of Jesus. 
One night he dreamed that black devils obliterated it 
and went their way. But again a company of angels 
came and wrote the Name and its praises in letters of 
blood and colors of fire and said as they vanished, 
" Now let them efface it !" All along history the good 
Lord has been writing his wonderful gospel in ever 
deeper and more enduring characters. An innumerable 
company have risen up to call him blessed. His glory 
brightens with every rising sun. As Renan said, " All 
ages will proclaim that none has been born greater than 
Jesus among the children of men." 

The reason why our Lord and Saviour is rejected is 
because men do not look him frankly in the face. Two 
travellers sat in a railway car discussing the character of 



46 "THE MORNING COMETH." 

Christ. One said, " I think an interesting romance could 
be written about him." The other replied, " And you 
are just the man to write it. Set forth the correct 
view of Jesus. Tear down the prevailing sentiments as 
to his divineness. Paint him as he was, a glorious man." 
The suggestion was acted upon ; the book was written. 
The man who made the suggestion was Robert G. In- 
gersoll; the book is Ben-Hur; the writer was Gen. Lew. 
Wallace. In the process of constructing the book he 
was required to study the life and character of Jesus and, 
as he studied, he was convinced of his divine personality. 
So must any man who will frankly look upon the face of 
the Nazarene be at last humbled before him, and forced 
to cry, " My Lord and my God 1" 



LET US GO ON. 47 



LET US GO ON. 



" Therefore, leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us 
go on unto perfection." Heb. 6:1. 

We are fond of saying in these times that Christianity- 
is a life. If by this we mean that Christianity is adverse 
or superior to dogma, the aphorism is perniciously false. 
But there is a definite sense in which it is true. Christian- 
ity is a doctrinal and ethical system abiding in the soul 
and expressing itself in walk and conversation. It is 
preeminently a living thing. It is a creed going about 
doing good. 

The evidence of the life of Christianity is in its neces- 
sity of growth. All organic things are under the same 
law. A stone differs from a plant. The stone receives 
accretions from without ; the plant is wrought upon and 
developed by an internal principle. Thus a man differs 
from a mummy. One wails in a mother's arms for a time^ 
creeps, toddles, walks upon his feet, breaks from his lead- 
ing-strings, and hurries over the threshold into youth, 
and from youth to vigorous manhood. But the mummy 
of old Rameses looks at you through the glass doors of 
the Boolak Museum just as it looked at the wailing 
mourners who carried it past the Pyramids to its burial 
four thousand years ago. 

The man whose spiritual nature has come into contact 
with the supernatural Source and Centre of life is thrilled 
with a vital principle as really as if God had touched him 
with an electric spark. And thenceforth, by virtue of the 



48 "THE MORNING COMETH." 

communication of that spiritual life, the necessity of un- 
ceasing growth is upon him. 

This thought pervades the Scriptures. The Old Testa- 
ment is full of it. Life is structural. The chiefest thing 
is edification — temple-building — the soul rising into a glo- 
rious fabric fit for the indwelling of the Spirit of God. 
The teachings of Christ are pervaded by it. The king- 
dom of heaven, that is, righteousness in the soul, is like 
the leaven which a woman put in three measures of meal, 
and behold the whole lump was leavened. And again, 
the kingdom of heaven is like to a grain of mustard- 
seed which a man took and sowed in his field ; which in- 
deed is the least of all seeds, but when it is grown it is 
the greatest among herbs, and becometh a tree, so that the 
birds of the air come and lodge in the branches thereof. 
The philosophy of St. Paul would be as dry as a summer 
heath without this thought, " We are bound to thank God 
always for you, brethren, as it is meet, because that your 
faith groweth exceedingly." 

So here. Paul is writing to the Diaspora, the Jews 
scattered abroad. They had been bound in the fetters of 
the ceremonial law and blinded by prejudice against the 
spiritual worship of the true God. Christ came with his 
wonder-working power and they arose in newness of life. 
Their chains were broken, their eyes were opened, the 
song of salvation thrilled on their lips. Just then came 
the great danger, the danger of standing still. The word 
of the apostle is like a trumpet-call : " Let us go on. 
Leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go 
on unto perfection!" 

By leaving the principles or principia he did not mean 
that they were to forsake, renounce, or forget them. 
Principles are never to be renounced. They were to leave 



LET US GO ON. 49 

them as the plant leaves its root, piercing the crust of 
earth, seeking the sun's warmth, putting forth verdure, 
and blooming in beauty. They were to leave the princi- 
ples of the gospel as the brook leaves the mountain spring, 
leaping from shelf to shelf, winding in and out to irrigate 
the growing fields, increasing in volume as it murmurs on, 
turning the wheels of industry, and bearing at length upon 
the majestic bosom of the river the commerce of the world. 

What are these principles ? 

I. Salvation, The apostle entreats these people not 
to lay again the foundation of repentance from dead works 
and faith towards God. Repentance and faith are the 
negative and the positive side of salvation or deliverance 
from sin. With these begins the Christian life. But how 
many there are who linger here, spending weary hours in 
self-examination, doubting as to the validity of their hope, 
sadly questioning, 

"Oft it causes anxious thought, 
Am I His or am I not?" 

What fretting and worrying about " assurance M ! I know 
of no assurance except the assurance of faith, and " faith is 
the evidence of things not seen." Our hope of salvation 
rests upon an absolute trust in God. He hath said, " He 
that liveth and believeth in me shall never die." The secret 
of assurance is in taking him at his word. A sure cure 
for doubt and despondency is to get down upon one's 
knees and do there again the first works, surrendering in- 
stantly to Christ, instantly and unconditionally. Then arise 
and trust him. Do not keep pumping out the hold for 
ever. Stop the leak and sail on. 

Salvation is more than mere deliverance from death. 
It is a great word and means, in its fulness, an entire con- 

4 



50 "THE MORNING COMETH. 

formity to God. Salvation means not repentance and 
faith only, but all the graces of character. Salvation 
means perfection. Wherefore the apostle says, " Work 
out your own salvation with fear and trembling.' ' Work 
it out, out to its uttermost results, out to its splendid ful- 
filment, out to its glorious consummation. 

The old fathers of art, with scarcely an exception, did 
their best when working on the statues of their gods. 
One might carve a laughing child or a sporting satyr, 
but when he wrought his masterpiece he must needs get 
his model and his inspiration from the Olympiad — a Jupi- 
ter Tonans or a Venus rising from the sea. We also do 
our very best when copying, not human models, but the 
glorious Son of God. He is our Exemplar, and to imi- 
tate him is to be ever growing towards the full stature of 
a man. We soar highest when working out to its perfec- 
tion the godlikeness which is implanted in us. 

II. Belief. Our creed is one of those principia which 
we are to leave in going on unto perfection. At the be- 
ginning of the Christian life we receive certain fundamen- 
tals as true. They form the very basis of our profession : 
" I believe in God, the Father Almighty; I believe in 
Jesus Christ, who was born of a woman, crucified for me, 
and in his resurrection brought life and immortality to 
light ; I believe in the Scriptures as the only infallible rule 
of faith and practice." In war times if a man breathed a 
word against the Constitution of the United States it was 
proof positive of disloyalty. He was in danger of Fort 
Lafayette. He was pointed at as he walked along the street. 
The man who questions the authority of the Scriptures, 
which are the constitution of the Christian life, has reason 
to investigate his loyalty. For in entering upon his 
Christian confession he professed to believe that the 



LET US GO ON. 5 1 

court of last appeal in matters of faith and conduct is 
the Word of God. 

These things are received as postulates ; if they are 
not so received we have not really entered upon the 
Christian life at all. In fact, however, a multitude of us 
are all the while questioning as to the existence of God 
and the divine work of Jesus and the trustworthiness of 
the Scriptures, and so are "ever learning and never able 
to come to the knowledge of the truth.'' 

O men and women, let us leave the rudiments and go 
on unto perfection ! There are vast realms of truth before 
us, but we shall never explore them so long as we insist 
upon going around and around the old doctrines which 
in all good reason should have been settled at the outset. 
Multitudes of Christians are threshing old straw while the 
yellow sheaves of truth lie all about them untouched. 

The troubles in the church as well as in the individual 
Christian life are largely due to this tedious discussion of 
long-settled truths. At this moment there is scarcely a 
denomination which is not fretted by logomachies as to 
baptism or the laying on of hands, or as to problems of 
eschatology or the inspiration of the Word. If young 
people were to pursue their education along such lines 
they would never get beyond b-a ba k-e-r ker, baker. 

There was a time when Alfred Tennyson was a lad in 
bib and tucker and played with alphabet-blocks as other 
lads do, building bridges and forts and cathedrals ; but as 
time passed the larger tasks of life summoned him. He 
left his alphabet, not renouncing it, but passing on to the 
practical uses and applications of it. His A, B, C grew 
into the " Idylls of the King" and "In Memoriam." 
When the supreme moment came it would have been a 
strange thing if the Laureate, dying there in the moonlight, 



52 "THE MORNING COMETH." 

had still been fumbling- his building-blocks. But no, he 
died with great thoughts in his brain and the open page 
of " Cymbeline" before him. " When I was a child I 
spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a 
child ; but when I became a man I put away childish 
things. " 

The time for us to determine upon the fundamen- 
tals is when we stand upon the threshold. That crossed, 
we pass on to ulterior conquests in the realm of spiritual 
and eternal truth. Ne Plus Ultra was the legend on 
the Pillars of Hercules. Ne plus ultra ? Nay, rather — ■ 
Plus Ultra for ever and ever. There is always more 
beyond. The beyond is the illimitable. Let us not go 
cruising around the fringes of the Mediterranean, but 
turn our prows towards the Pillars of Hercules and sail 
out towards the west. 

III. Duty. The rudimental questions of ethics are 
among these principles which we are to leave in order 
that we may go on unto perfection. There are three rules 
of conduct which are settled at the beginning of the Chris- 
tian life. These are : 

(i.) I must do nothing knowingly to offend God. 

(2.) I must do nothing to wrong myself. 

(3.) I must do nothing that will be an occasion of 
stumbling for my fellow-men. 

These are the touchstones by which we determine most 
of the questions that arise in common life. How much of 
our time and energy are spent in simple questions of cas- 
uistry which these rules should determine in the twinkling 
of an eye — questions as to certain darling sins, old habits, 
eating and drinking, and as to the rhythmical movements 
of our nether limbs. A jeweller's clerk who has served his 
apprenticeship long enough to tell gold from pinchbeck at 



LET US GO ON. 53 

a glance needs not get down his acid-bottle every time a 
customer brings in a brooch or earring. The question 
settles itself in an instant when he sees it. So should our 
common questions of conscience, and so would they if we 
had not fallen into the habit of trifling with them. 

Oh let us go on ! let us leave the principles and go 
on unto perfection. Life is too large and momentous to 
be spent in such small questionings. The growing boy 
outgrows his clothes. The best proof that a man is advan- 
cing in the spiritual life is that he has gotten beyond the 
routine of small scruples and has entered upon the more 
earnest responsibilities of the kingdom of God. 

Duty is the great matter. Duty is the sum total 
of Christian service. Duty is ethical purpose in perfec- 
tion. Let us go on unto it. When Saul of Tarsus asked 
of the Lord, "What wilt thou have me to do?" he did 
not mean, " May I visit the stadium exhibitions as I have 
been accustomed to do ? May I mingle in the Isthmian 
games ? May I continue to be a Jewish zealot haling 
Christians to judgment and death?" These things had 
all been instantly disposed of. What he meant was, 
" In the new world of usefulness, which this sun-burst of 
heaven has opened before me, where wilt thou have me 
to go, Lord, and what shall I do ?" 

To be for ever engaged in the round of ethical ques- 
tionings as to the right and the wrong of the small affairs 
of life is a task as fruitless as that of the Danaides, who 
were doomed to draw water from a deep well and fill an 
immense sieve with it. This is the pain of minimum 
piety which keeps us for ever doing the same things over 
and over with nothing to show for it. O beloved, let us 
go on to the larger tasks of the kingdom of God. Duty 
is, to do with truth and righteousness whatever, in the 



54 "THE MORNING COMETH. 

providence of God, is laid upon us. The world lieth in 
darkness ; go thou with a flaming torch and help to illu- 
minate it ! The fields are yellow unto the harvest ; thrust 
in thy sickle and reap ! Souls are waiting to be saved ; 
go thou and bring them back to God ! 

A few words of closing counsel. 

First. Begin. There is no growth in life unless you 
have gotten hold of the principles. You must leave them 
to seek things beyond. The difference between a Chris- 
tian and a non-Christian is the difference between a man 
plodding to Jerusalem with staff in hand and another 
man who hopes to go to Jerusalem but who has not 
started out. 

Second, Be ambitious to make the most of yourself, to 
do the most for God. We have only one life here ; let 
us realize the utmost possibilities of it. The children of 
Israel might have gone straight from Egypt into the 
promised land, but alas, they were hindered by their sins 
and murmurings, and went round and round by the way 
of the wilderness for forty long years. So we go lusting 
for quails and making golden calves for ourselves and 
dancing around them. Canaan is just yonder. I hear 
the rushing flood of Jordan. I see the palm-trees wa- 
ving on the farther shore. Let us hasten on and possess 
the land. 

Third. Do not be discouraged. Rome was not built 
in a day. Character is a slow growth. He that believeth 
shall not make haste. Digging up a newly planted bulb 
is not going to hasten the blooming of the lily. The 
kingdom of God cometh not with observation. The day 
does not break instantly. A beam — an arrow of light 
shooting aloft — a deepening glow — the lifting of darkness 
like the lifting of a veil, the stars vanishing one by one 



LET US GO ON. 55 

like quenched candles — the scattering of shadows like 
panic-stricken ghosts — the clouds changing from black to 
gray, from gray to amber, from amber to glorious crim- 
son, from crimson to burning gold — the red dawn creeping 
upward like a flush over a human face — the woodman's 
axe ringing from the forest on yonder hill — the smoke 
rising from the chimney in the meadow beneath — the dew 
sparkling on the grass — the flowers swinging their cen- 
sers — the birds singing — sounds of busy life coming from 
afar — at last, at last, the world is awake! So is the 
progress of righteousness in the soul — it shineth brighter 
and brighter unto the perfect day. 

And then, passing through the gates of heaven we 
shall still be going on, going on to larger measures of 
perfection in truth and character. There is no solstice 
there. " We all, with open face beholding as in a glass the 
glory of the Lord, shall be changed into the same image 
from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord." 
Let us go on! 



56 "THE MORNING COMETH/' 



A SENSATIONAL GOSPEL. 



" It pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that 
believe." i Cor. 1:21. 

In the divine economy it has been determined that 
preaching — the foolishness of preaching — should be the 
instrument for the conversion of the world. Why not the 
sword ? Because God's thoughts are not as our thoughts. 
When earthly kings resolve on conquest we hear the 
marshalling of the hosts, the sound of the hammer in the 
ship-yards, the trumpet-blast. But when God goeth 
forth, conquering and to conquer, he gathers around him 
a company of fishermen and other humble folk and bids 
them go armed only with the " Sword of the Spirit " 
which is the Word of God. 

When Jesus stood in the midst of his little group of 
followers, none of them rich or learned or influential, and 
said, " Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to 
every creature/' princes and priests did not tremble, for 
none dreamed that in the fulfilment of that prophetic com- 
mand all thrones and oracles should be overturned and 
the cords of the tabernacle of Jesus should be extended 
from the river to the ends of the earth. Yet so it is. 
This foolishness of preaching is in reality the very wisdom 
and power of God. The truths of the gospel rightly 
presented must of necessity find their way to heart and 
conscience. What need of adventitious helps or resorts 
to sensationalism, so called, save to that which rests in 
the intrinsic power of the truth ? They are ruled out. 



A SENSATIONAL GOSPEL. 57 

First, sensational themes ; that is, such as have no im- 
mediate bearing on the soul's eternal welfare. 

Second, sensational methods > the methods of a mitred 
mountebank who 

ft Plays such fantastic tricks before high heaven 
As make the angels weep." 

Third \ the se?isationalism of mere rhetoric ; choice 
words, rounded periods with no practical helpfulness in 
them, no message from the Throne. 

" Water, water, everywhere! 

And all the boards did shrink. 
Water, water, everywhere, 
And not a drop to drink !" 

Fourth, the se?isationalism of heresy. The cheapest 
popularity in these times is to be won by repudiating the 
symbols which were solemnly espoused in the ordination 
vow. The crowd runs together to see a man strike his 
mother church in the breast. A breach of common hon- 
esty in the pulpit will win immediate applause from those 
who are not in cordial sympathy with truth and righteous- 
ness. But the man who resorts to this sensational device 
is neither a worthy minister nor an honest man. 

The gospel is in itself sensational to the last degree, if 
it be worthily preached. Its truths are tremendous in 
their import and take hold upon the innermost fibres of 
the soul. Dulness in the pulpit is intolerable. It can 
only be accounted for on the assumption that the preacher 
has not apprehended his theme. " Why is it," said a 
clergyman to David Garrick, " that you draw the multi- 
tudes while I preach to empty pews?" "Because," re- 
plied the actor, " I set forth fiction as if it were true, while 
you preach the truth as if it were fiction." We in the 



58 "THE MORNING COMETH." 

ministry need to be more and more drenched by the real- 
ity of gospel truth. When the saintly Summerfield was 
dying he said, " Oh ! now if I could return to my pulpit 
but for an hour, how I could preach, for I have looked 
into eternity !" Would that God might give us clear eyes 
to see those things which, being unseen, are most real 
and eternal. How then could we preach ! No need then 
of the vanity of adventitious helps. We should then be 
able to set forth burniiig thoughts in breathing words and 
bring our people face to face with the solemnities and pro- 
fundities of the gospel of Christ. In our seminary course 
we theological students were taught to divide truth under 
three heads, to wit: Theology, Anthropology, Soteriol- 
ogy. These comprehended the sum and substance of the 
Christian System. Each of these divisions of doctrine 
has in it such possibilities of interest and conviction that 
we who preach them are without excuse if they do not 
find their way to the centre of the hearts of men. 

I. Theology, i. e., the science of God. 

God ! ! a great word. A word of three letters only, 
but of infinite dimensions ; easy to say, but how difficult 
to apprehend ! " Canst thou by searching find out God ?" 
Our work is to bring him near to the hearts and con- 
sciences of the people, to make God real. It is ours to 
declare the contents of the Name. 

(i.) God essential. Try to define him. Here is 
the best definition that ever was formulated : " God is a 
Spirit (what is spirit?), infinite (what is infinitude?), eter- 
nal (eternity !), unchangeable (how can we grasp immu- 
tability?), in his being, wisdom, power, holiness, justice, 
goodness, and truth." We attempt to simplify the great 
mystery, and lo, a new mystery is contained in every word. 
Turn your telescope towards the farthest nebula in infinite 



A SENSATIONAL GOSPEL. 59 

space, and lo, from far yonder comes back the word, 
" Canst thou by searching find out God ?" Turn your 
microscope upon the last reduction of life, protoplasm, 
primordial germ, and out of that comes a faint whisper, 
" Canst thou by searching find out God?" 

(2.) God personal. It is ours to bring God near to 
the people. Sir John Franklin relates that when trying 
to persuade a tribe of Esquimaux of the divine presence 
and interest, the chief answered him, " There may be a 
God, but he surely knows nothing about us. Behold our 
poverty, our rude homes, our tattered garments ! Behold 
yon icy crags ! There may be such a being as you men- 
tion ; but if so, he is surely afar off." It devolves upon 
us to let the people know that our God is a real person- 
ality, with eyes to see our pain and sorrow, with a heart to 
pity and mighty arms to help. 

(3.) God paternal. It was observed by Madame de 
Gasparin that if Jesus had done nothing in his earthly 
ministry but to teach men how to say " Our Father, which 
art in heaven," that would have been abundant compen- 
sation for the vast outlay involved in his dwelling among 
men. 

Thus to declare the infinite, eternal, and unchangeable 
One is surely a work that should enlist our utmost enthu- 
siasm and insure us against the least possibility of dul- 
ness. Ours is the glorious work to help the people to find 
God and apprehend him. Do you remember Moses* 
" call to the ministry " and how it came to him ? He was 
out in the wilderness of Horeb, a fugitive from his people 
and from duty. While following Jethro's flocks amid the 
solitudes he saw an acacia-bush on fire. He drew nigh, 
wondering. The flames leaped through the bush, yet not 
a leaf was shrivelled, not a twig was burned ! As he won- 



60 "THE MORNING COMETH/' 

dered a voice said, " Draw not hither; put off thy sanaafs; 
the place whereon thou standest is holy ground.'' He 
reverently bowed his head ; it had come at last, "lam the 
God of thy fathers." He was afraid to look or to utter a 
word. " I am come down to deliver my people. Come 
now, I will send thee." " Who am I," he cried, " that I 
should go?" "I will be with thee." "What is thy 
name ?" " Go say unto them, Jehovah (I Am That I 
Am) hath sent thee unto them." This was his call. 

He went. He gathered the elders and told them about 
Jehovah. He assembled the people, and with signs and 
wonders showed them that Jehovah is God. He made his 
way to the Egyptian court and presented his demand : 
" Thus saith Jehovah, Let my people go." And Pharaoh 
replied with a derisive smile, "Jehovah? I know Isis, I 
know Osiris, I know all the gods of Egypt ; but who, pray, 
is this Jehovah?" And Moses said, "I will declare him 
unto thee. Thou believest in the Nile-god, in the holy 
Scarabseus, in the Frog-headed One, in Apis, in the divine 
Leek, in all forms of adorable life; but Jehovah will prove 
himself the master of all the gods." He waved his rod, 
and the Nile was a rolling torrent of blood ; he waved 
again, and frogs came up from the water-side into their 
ovens, their kneading- troughs, their bed-chambers. Once 
more, and the air was full of gnats and beetles. They 
should have enough of holy Scarabseus ! Again, and a 
murrain fell upon the cattle ; lo, Apis was put to shame ! 
Again, and destruction rained down upon fields of wheat 
and the gardens of leeks and onions. Yet once more, 
and the homes of Egypt sent forth a mighty wail for the 
dead. " I Am That I Am " thus proved himself Lord of 
Life and of Death. At last Pharaoh bowed his head, con- 
vinced that Jehovah alone is God. 



A SENSATIONAL GOSPEL. 6l 

This too is our commission, to let rulers and people 
know that Jehovah reigns and will have his way among 
the children of men. 

II. Anthropology, that is, the science of man. 

We do not know ourselves. It is a true saying, "The 
proper study of mankind is man." It devolves upon us 
to make the people see themselves, not " as ithers see 
them," but as they are and as they appear in the clear 
sight of God. In so doing we shall find ourselves at no 
loss for material to enchain the attention. There is no 
room for dulness here. 

(i.) We are to throw upon the canvas the picture of 
man as God created him. He breathed into his nostrils 
the breath of life, and he became a living soul. He made 
him a little lower than God. Here he is under the trees 
of Paradise, his heart full of happiness, conscience clear as 
the sunlight ; he walks with God in the cool of the day. 
He has kingly dominion over all the creatures. What a 
splendid heritage is his ! What a glorious outlook is be- 
fore him ! 

(2.) We are to throw upon the canvas another pic- 
ture — of man exiled from Paradise, sent out into a wilder- 
ness of toil and sorrow, his head fallen on his breast, 
his heart full of shame, his conscience smitten with re- 
morse, tottering on towards the Valley of the Shadow of 
Death. 

Man, lost and ruined ; on his brow one word, Icha- 
bod — the glory hath departed ! 

(3.) We are to throw upon the canvas another pic- 
ture — a spectre black as midnight — Sin. 

It was sin that wrought the awful calamity. Sin has 
dug every grave. Sin has unsheathed every sword that 
has ever been flashed upon a battlefield. Sin has desola- 



62 "THE MORNING COMETH." 

ted homes, corrupted social life, and ruined governments. 
Sin bloats the face of youth and scars its beauty with foul 
traces of lust and inebriety. Sin dethrones the proudest 
intellects and sets the maddened soul on fire of hell. Sin 
sharpened the dagger that pierced the heart of the Only 
Begotten Son of God. 

It is easy to preach smooth things. The multitudes 
demand them (Isa. 30:10), but we must turn not aside. 
Cry aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet 
and show the people their sin — sin, and death following 
after. Not sin in the abstract, not sin floating in the air 
like the breath of a pestilence or exhaling like miasma 
from the slums, but sin abiding in human hearts and 
making itself manifest in human lives — sin in you and in 
me. 

So the call came to Nathan, " Go show David his sin." 
The king had committed a dreadful offence. He had 
murdered Uriah and taken Bathsheba to wife. He had 
kept his crime in his own breast, but his soul was troubled. 
Over the blue skies, where once he loved to read the 
divine glory, was written — Murder ! The winds that 
whistled round his palace shrieked — Adultery ! In the 
watches of the night he saw in letters of fire on the dark 
w r alls of his chamber — Uriah ! And when he knelt in 
prayer, voices called to him from the corners of his 
closet — Bathsheba ! In the temple the hosannas and hal- 
lelujahs of the great choirs had an undertone like a w r ail 
of sorrow that reminded him of his dreadful sin. 

The court preacher entered. After a respectful salu- 
tation he laid before the king a case for judgment, a 
trifling affair yet worthy of the royal attention. " A poor 
man had one little ev/e lamb. It was dear as a daughter, 
ate of his food and drank of his cup. His rich neighbor 



A SENSATIONAL GOSPEL. 63 

had many flocks and herds, but when his hospitality was 
needed he spared to take of his own possessions and 
seized upon the ewe lamb." Thus far when the king in- 
terrupted him, " As the Lord liveth, the man that hath 
done this thing shall surely die !" The moment has come. 
A sermon is a thrust. Draw thy blade, O prophet of the 
Lord ! " Thou art the man !" 

The iron enters into David's soul; he sees himself 
stripped of purple and ermine, a sinner before God. Up 
the winding stairway he staggers to his closet on the 
house-top, the face of Uriah staring into his — a cold, reso- 
lute, brave face. He bends in his closet, and from every 
nook and cranny the filmed eyes of the dead Uriah are 
gazing at him. He kneels — listen at his door : " Have 
mercy upon me, O God, according to thy loving-kind- 
ness ; according unto the multitude of thy tender mercies 
blot out my transgressions. For I acknowledge my 
transgressions ; and my sin is ever before me. Against 
thee, thee only, have I sinned and done this evil in thy 
sight." 

This is the tremendous fact which we are to declare to 
our people— we are ail alike and there is no difference ; 
we have all sinned and come short of the glory of God, 
In our brain, our conscience, our heart, is the black 
plague-spot of sin. 

To preach this as it ought to be preached is of neces- 
sity to touch men at the very core of their being. If we 
did but apprehend the truth in its reality we should preach 
it with such effect as was seen when Jonathan Edwards 
spoke of "sinners in the hands of an angry God," when 
men and women cried out in their anguish of conviction 
and clung for support to the pillars of the church. No 
need of adventitious helps to win attention. No room for 



64 "THE MORNING COMETH." 

dulness here, if only we have ourselves realized the ex- 
ceeding sinfulness of sin. Rom. 7: 13. 

III. Soieriology, i. e., the science of salvation. This 
is the third link in the gospel chain of reconciliation with 
God. The substance of the gospel is perfectly compre- 
hended in three startling truths : 

(1.) The Incarnation. Great is the mystery of god- 
liness ; God was manifested in the flesh ! We are to 
stand at the threshold of the stable in Bethlehem and 
bring to the knowledge of our people this wondrous 
adumbration of Deity. Here are heard the songs of 
angels, the laughter of children, the joy of those who 
have been groping for the Infinite. Here all the sons of 
God are shouting for joy. Who does not covet the 
privilege of him who stands here to usher sorrowing, be- 
wildered souls into the presence of the enfleshed God ? 

(2.). The Atonement. All souls are asking, " What 
shall we do to be saved ?" All are desiring to know how 
man may be reconciled with God. We preach the re- 
demptive glory of the cross. We cry, "Look, and 
live !" 

A poor demented creature, a fisherman's wife, came to 
the minister with her hands full of wet sand, saying, " Do 
you see it ? Oh my sins ! as the sands of the sea-shore 
for multitude, as the sands of the sea-shore !" " Where 
did you get it?" said he. " Down by the beacon." " Go 
down by the beacon and put it there. Dig deep and pile 
up as high as ever you can. Wait until the tide rolls in." 
She went down by the beacon, heaped up the sand, and 
stood waiting. She watched the waves as they crept 
higher and higher until they swept over her sins, and she 
clapped her hands for joy. It was a pantomime of the 
glorious truth. Oh, beloved, the tide, the crimson tide, 



A SENSATIONAL GOSPEL. 65 

rolls in ! Here under the cross we preach the gospel of 
Redemptive Love. The tide rolls in ; " It cleanseth me, 
it cleanseth me ; oh praise the Lord, it cleanseth me !" 

(3.) The Resurrection. Life and immortality are 
brought to light. The darkest night the world ever saw 
was when Jesus lay in his sepulchre. The Sun of Right- 
eousness was eclipsed. But the brightest dawn was when 
he broke the bands of death and ascended up on high and 
took captivity captive. Here at the open sepulchre we 
stand pointing to the open heavens whither he has gone. 
Lo, yonder the keys of death and hell are at his girdle, 
and the seal of divine indorsement is put upon his media- 
torial work. Here is comfort for all who mourn. Here 
is courage for all who tremble before the King of Terrors. 
Here is the triumph of heavenly grace. Why need I 
fear? 

" The world recedes, it disappears ; 

Heaven opens on mine eyes ! Mine ears 

With sounds seraphic ring. 
Lend ! lend your wings ! I mount ! I fly ! 
O grave, where is thy victory ? 

O death, where is thy sting?" 

What splendid opportunities of enchaining the atten- 
tion and capturing the hearts of men ! We stand as did 
the sentinel upon the wall of Orleans when reinforcements 
came. The walls had been breached and shattered, the 
people v/ere reduced to the last extremity. The old 
priest, Anianus, was praying in their midst. From the 
ramparts came the cry, " I see the rescue of the Lord !" 
It was only a cloud far yonder on the hills. Nearer and 
nearer it came. " I see the glistening of spears, I see the 
waving of the Gothic banners I" The cloud drew nearer 
from the distance; it was the squadron of Theodoric. 

5 



66 "THE MORNING COMETH." 

The people were saved. Oh, beloved, it is ours to stand 
upon the outer ramparts of death and announce the " Res- 
cue of the Lord." The banners are waving, the shields 
of heaven aglow with the morning light, heaven is opened, 
hosannas and hallelujahs are all around us. 

These are the glorious truths which we are commis- 
sioned to declare unto you. Pray for us that our lips 
may be touched with a live coal from the heavenly altar. 
(Isa. 6.6.) Pray for us that our hearts may be filled 
with the glory of the truth. Pray for us that the vision of 
the burning bush may be vouchsafed to us. And pray 
for yourselves, beloved, that your hearts may be opened 
to receive the truth. For though we spake with the 
tongues of angels, yet our utterances would be vain unless 
the bolts were drawn and the doors opened to receive 
the message of truth. Spiritual things are spiritually dis- 
cerned. Oh, Holy Ghost, come and prepare the way 
before the truth ! Force its passage through barriers 
which sin has heaped up before it. Help us to hearken. 
Give us the hearing ear and the understanding heart. 
For if this everlasting gospel is true at all it is awfully, 
eternally, divinely true. So help us to receive it, for Je- 
sus' sake. Amen. 



CHARACTER-BUILDING. 67 

CHARACTER-BUILDING. 



" For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is 
Jesus Christ. Now if any man build upon this foundation, gold, 
silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble, every man's work 
shall be made manifest ; for the day shall declare it, because 
it shall be revealed by fire ; and the fire shall try every man's 
work of what sort it is." 1 Cor. 3:11-13. 

In my hand is a letter addressed by a college student 
to his mother, in which he says : 

" I want your advice upon the comprehensive subject of char- 
acter-building. I wish mine to be built right, but I fear I do 
not know how to go about it. It is not enough to avoid putting 
in poor material ; the edifice cannot rise rapidly or well unless 
good material is put in. And I don't know just what quarries 
to visit in search of this, nor, more important still, how to get it 
from the quarries and apply it to my needs. Perhaps it is be- 
cause my needs are as yet rather vague and undefined, for I 
have never thought much on this matter until recently. What 
shall I do? Where shall I go?" 

A youth who can write in this manner is surely not far 
from the kingdom of God. It is written of the young 
ruler who ran to prostrate himself before Jesus that he 
asked, " What shall I do that I may inherit eternal life?" 
and Jesus, beholding him, loved him. The heart of the 
Master ever goes out to an earnest young man. The 
world is so full of youth who are chasing thistle-down that 
one w r ho seriously confronts the problems of eternal life is 
worthy oi profound consideration. Nor could any ques- 
tion be of more serious import than this of character- 
building. "Where shall I go? and what shall I do?" 



68 "THE MORNING COMETH/ 1 

Our life is structural. That the apostle Paul so re- 
garded it may be learned from his frequent use of the 
words edify and edification, the etymological meaning of 
which is " house-building." We are each building a 
house to dwell in — to dwell in for ever. Character is the 
enduring thing. " Thou delightest my heart," said the 
Emperor Augustus to Piso, who was rearing a splendid 
edifice of marble, " because thou art building as if Rome 
were eternal." We build for eternity. As the tree fall- 
eth, so shall it lie. As death leaves us, eternity finds us. 
Over the portal through which we pass out of probation 
into destiny is written, " He that is unjust, let him be 
unjust still; he that is righteous, let him be righteous 
still." So we build for eternity, for weal or woe, a 
thatched hut, fit only for bats and vermin to revel in, or a 
sanctuary that shall resound with hallelujahs. 

St. Paul is writing to the Corinthians. Corinth was a 
city of striking contrasts, of vast wealth and sordid pov- 
erty. The abject multitudes dwelt in " ergastula," straw 
huts and hovels; but there were multitudes of palatial 
homes. The palace of the Proconsul was there, the Posi- 
donium, or Temple of Neptune, and the magnificent thea- 
tre for the Isthmian games. So the people who dwelt in 
Corinth would understand the apostle's architectural fig- 
ure, "we are building." We are building in our quietest 
hours ; the still moments of our life have in them the plot 
of eternal dramas. Let us build well. 

I. As to the foundation. Let us make no mistake here. 
It makes a vast difference what we build on. The Lord 
tell 3 us of two shepherds who led their flocks down by 
the water courses and sought for a suitable place whereon 
to build their watch-huts. One selected a place by the 
river-side where the herbage was green and easy of access. 



CHARACTER-BUILDING. 69 

The other, more prudent, preferred a shelf of the rock. 
Every handful of straw for its thatching must be carried 
up a toilsome path. It would be a difficult matter, more- 
over, to fold his flocks at eventide. But presently the 
stormy season was at hand ; the rains descended, the floods 
came, the winds blew and beat upon his house, but it fell 
not. He,stood in his doorway and saw the torrent roll 
through the wady below — with infinite but vain compas- 
sion saw it sweep away his neighbor's house to utter ruin. 
Oh yes, it makes a difference what a man builds on. 

The foundation is already laid for us. " Other foun- 
dation can no man lay than is laid, which is Jesus Christ," 
the Rock of Ages. 

And what is it to build on Christ ? It is not merely 
to receive his teachings by an intellectual assent. The 
learned Grotius, who had taught theology all his life, 
lamented at the last that truth had taken no vital grip 
upon his heart. It is not to receive Christ sentimentally. 
To be a Christian is something vastly other than merely 
to rhapsodize about the Lord or to sing " All hail the 
power of Jesus' name !" Nor is it merely to enroll our- 
selves upon the roster of the Christian Church, for there 
will be multitudes who at the last shall knock, saying, 
"Lord, Lord, open unto us. We have cast out devils 
in thy name, and in thy name done many w T onderful 
works ;" but he shall say, " I never knew you : depart 
from me, ye that work iniquity." 

To build on Jesus Christ is to receive him in such a 
manner that our lives shall be blended in his and we shall 
be able to say, " I am crucified with him ; nevertheless I 
live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me." 

It is to accept him with such an all-embracing consent 
that his will shall be our will, his work our work, his people 



yo "THE MORNING COMETH." 

our people, his manner of life our rule of action, his Bible 
the man of our counsel, his slightest wish our law, himself 
our first, last, midst, and all in all. 

(i.) We receive him as our Prophet, i.e., as our au- 
thoritative teacher. In seeking after wisdom, which is the 
principal thing, we as believers in Jesus Christ pass by all 
the philosophical schools and come at length unto the 
clear visions of Tabor, where we behold no man save Jesus 
only, and voices from heaven speak, " This is my beloved 
Son ; hear him." 

His word is our court of last appeal. If he teaches 
the doctrine of eternal retribution — the undying worm 
and the unquenchable fire — we can listen no more to the 
suggestions of a " second probation." The Lord has spo- 
ken, and his is the final word. If he says, " Ask, and it 
shall be given you ; seek, and ye shall find ; knock, and it 
shall be opened unto you : for every one that asketh receiv- 
eth, and he that seeketh findeth, and to him that knocketh 
it shall be opened," we are not at liberty to question as to 
our Father's willingness to hear, or to resort to any prayer- 
test whatsoever, for his is the final word. If he delivers the 
Bible to us as an infallible rule of faith and practice, that 
ends the question as to the validity of Holy Writ. If 
there were mistakes in the original Scriptures and he was 
ignorant of them, he surely was not wise enough to be a 
prophet for us ; or if he was aware of them and gave no 
hint or intimation to enlighten us, he surely was not frank 
enough to be a prophet for us. He has spoken, " Search 
the scriptures, for in them ye think ye have eternal life, 
and these are they which testify of me." If we are Chris- 
tians, the final word has been spoken. We have no alter- 
native but to receive Christ's teaching with respect to the 
Scriptures as the veritable Word of God. 



CHARACTER-BUILDING. 71 

(2.) We receive Him as our Priest. He alone is com- 
petent to make atonement for us. Once wounded for our 
transgressions and bruised for our iniquities, by his stripes 
he healeth us. He bare our sins, their shame, their bond- 
age, and their penalty, in his own body on the accursed 
tree. We repose our only hope of eternal life in him. 

" The atoning work is done, 
The Victim's blood is shed ; 
And Jesus now is gone 

His people's cause to plead. 
He stands in heaven their great High Priest 
And bears their names upon his breast." 

(3.) We receive him also as our King. He is a Sa- 
viour with a sceptre. It is ours to obey, as one of the 
fathers has written, " without sciscitation." In vain will 
you search your dictionary for that word "sciscitation," 
but we may conjecture as to its meaning. To obey with- 
out sciscitation means without questioning, without mur- 
muring, without interposing our personal judgment, with- 
out trepidation, without a doubt as to the Master's right 
to command us. " Ye call me Master and Lord, and ye 
say well, for so I am." If we have received him as our 
King, the word of the virgin mother should be for our 
guidance, " Whatsoever he saith unto you, do it." 

II. So far as to the foundation. We are now ready for 
the superstructure. The superstructure is character 
which we, as Christians, are to build on Christ the ever- 
lasting Rock. 

".But let every man take heed how he buildeth there- 
upon, for if any shall build upon this foundation, gold, 
silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble, his work shall 
be made manifest, for the day shall declare it and the fire 
shall try it." 



72 "THE MORNING COMETH." 

The reference of the apostle, in these words of admo- 
nition, was probably to the conflagration of Mummius 
which consumed a large portion of Corinth, B. C. 146. 
The marble homes and palaces were unharmed, but the 
straw-thatched huts were utterly swept away. The poor 
tenants were saved, but they wept over the loss of their 
" all." So, says Paul, take heed how ye build, for the 
time is coming when your fabric shall be put to the test ; 
the day shall declare it, the fire shall try it. 

But what are the things which go to make up char- 
acter ? 

(1.) Creed. Archimedes was wont to say that he 
could lift the world if only he might find a place for the 
fulcrum of his lever. A man's creed is his pou sto, his 
point of leverage. Our power is measured by our faith. 
The potter, Palissy, believed in white enamel and spent 
his life in an endeavor to produce it. Peter the hermit 
believed in the rescue of the Holy Sepulchre, and roused 
all Christendom to accomplish it. Alexander T. Stewart 
believed in gold as the principal thing, and died in pos- 
session of an abundance of it. Columbus believed in 
" India to the West/' and found San Salvador. William 
Carey believed in " India for Christ," and gave the primal 
impulse to the great missionary propaganda. A man 
without a creed is a purposeless do-naught. As a man 
thinketh in his heart, so is he. 

(2.) The next thing in the making up of character is a 
consistent manner of life. A man must exemplify his 
creed in his walk and conversation. The only piety that is 
worth the having is piety that tells the truth, that pays its 
debts when they fall due, that gives sixteen ounces to the 
pound, that votes for the upright candidates, that utters 
never an envious or unsavory word, that laughs with the 



CHARACTER-BUILDING. 73 

clear sweet laughter of childhood and not with that dry 
cachinnation of folly which is as the crackling of thorns, 
which conserves the peace of the home and the comfort of 
the neighborhood, which fears to do evil and loves to do 
well. 

When the cynic, Diogenes, was informed that a fellow 
philosopher of unsavory character was still engaged upon 
an elaborate system of truth, he dryly remarked, " So ! 
and when will he begin to practise it ?" A wiser than 
he has said, " Ye are the salt of the earth ; but if the 
salt hath lost its savor it is thenceforth good for naught 
but to be cast out and trodden under foot of men." 

(3.) The last element in the building of character is co- 
operation with God. Without this the edifice is but a 
roofless thing. To spend one's energy in the mere for- 
mulation of a creed and the elaboration of personal graces 
is to live a purely selfish life. 

Not long ago a ship foundered off this coast and 
many of her passengers went down. Her captain, wear- 
ing two life-preservers, was dragged aboard a fishing- 
boat, more dead than alive. On recovering, his first 
words were, " Where are my w r ife and children ?" He 
should have thought of that before. If he had been a 
thorough man he would have buckled those life-preserv- 
ers on his wife and children and struck out for himself. 
Too much of the worrying we Christians do is about 
our own salvation. We are all too little concerned about 
the deliverance of the great multitude of struggling swim- 
mers in the deep. The Lord said, " My Father worketh 
and I work." God worketh. In the footfall of mission- 
aries who tread dangerous paths and pursue weary jour- 
neyings in pagan lands, in the prayers of mothers who 
are pleading for their wayward children, in the voices of 



74 "THE MORNING COMETH." 

those who declare the glorious gospel from ten thousand 
pulpits, we note the tokens that our Father is at work. 
Oh that we may all, in sympathy with Jesus, answer, 
" And I work !" He stood between the market-place and 
the harvest-field: on one hand were the idlers, on the 
other the golden grain, and he said, " Go ye, thrust in the 
sickle and reap." It is for us, if we are true men and 
loyal, eager to build up character in the likeness of Jesus, 
the ideal man, to enter into eager participation with him 
in the great work of delivering the enslaved race from 
its bondage of sin. 

Cannot a man be saved without such a character ? 
Ay, that he can : he can be saved so as by fire. He can 
stand at the last like those poor Corinthians when the con- 
flagration had swept away their homes, saved but lament- 
ing the loss of their all. O God, let us come to heaven's 
gate not like idlers, empty-handed, but laden with the 
golden sheaves of the harvest. Let us come, not like 
those trustees of the heavenly bounty who, having re- 
ceived one talent, shall bring it in an earth-stained nap- 
kin, but rather as those who are burdened with the 
riches of the spiritual life. Let us come not as fugitives 
escaping from the avengers of blood, with the footsteps 
close behind them, but rather as victors', bearing in our 
bodies the marks of the Lord Jesus, the scars of many 
valiant struggles with our darling sins, of many an earnest 
conflict with the strongholds of iniquity, and leading with 
us a company of captives of hope, saying, " Here, Lord, 
am I and those whom thou hast given me." O Lord, 
save us not as by fire, but rather minister unto us an 
abundant entrance at heaven's gate ! 



SEVEN WONDERS. 75 



SEVEN WONDERS. 



" Be astonished, O ye heavens, at this." Jer. 2 : 12. 

Our curiosity is a racial trait. We smile at the Athe- 
nians because they spent their time in nothing else but 
to see and hear some new thing, but we all have the 
same infirmity. A dime museum will attract more pa- 
trons than a university lecture course. We run after the 
outr6, the extraordinary, the abnormal. Like the Jews 
we are always clamoring for a sign, for something out of 
the common. The parents of the olden time were wont 
to tell their eager children of the seven wonders. These 
were: (1.) The Pyramids. (2.) The Temple of the great 
Diana of the Ephesians. (3.) The Statue of Jupiter at 
Olympia. (4.) The Tomb of Mausolus. (What a satire on 
immortality ! Who was Mausolus ? We know not, but 
the mausoleum is with us. He gave his name and glory 
to his tomb.) (5.) The Colossus at Rhodes. (6.) The 
Pharos at Alexandria. (7.) The Hanging Gardens of 
Babylon. 

The world has been moving, however. The old won- 
ders are obsolete. One can reach with his finger-tips 
seven more wonderful wonders than they: the steam- 
engine — the sewing-machine — the phonograph — the sub- 
marine cable — St. Patrick's Cathedral (that marvel of 
beautiful architecture and municipal fraud !) — Greenwood 
Cemetery (abounding with marvels of sculpture and in- 
scriptions of hope beyond what the ancient world knew) — 
and our Statue of Liberty Enlightening the World. 



76 "THE MORNING COMETH. " 

We have to do, however, at this moment with marvels 
in the province of the spiritual life. There are some 
things here touching our relations with the spiritual world 
whereat heaven must wonder. A thoughtful man will 
find it impossible to explain them. 

First Wonder — an Unclaimed Crown. God made man 
in His likeness, with a splendid birthright and glorious 
possibilities before him. He was of the line royal, the 
blood of the King of kings flowing in his veins. He was 
made rational, able to ponder the great questions of the 
spiritual life. He was made immortal, animated by the 
breath which God himself had breathed into his nostrils 
and destined to live for ever. He was made an heir of 
the kingdom. If a child of God, then an heir of glory, 
and joint-heir with God's only Son to an inheritance in- 
corruptible, undefiled, and that fadeth not away. 

Where is the man to whom God extends this crown ? 
See him yonder chasing butterflies, pursuing thistle-down. 
He calls this pleasure. See him toiling with a muck-rake, 
his eyes downcast, plucking coins out of the garbage and 
loading himself with them. He calls this wealth. See him 
climbing laboriously the rocky side of yonder cliff that he 
may carve his initials upon its face — and fall. And this is 
fame ! All the while the windows of heaven are open 
above him and the glory of the celestial realms is unveiled 
before him. He gives no heed. God reaches forth to 
him a crown of righteousness. He gives no heed. Hear, 
O heavens, and give ear, O earth, for this is a marvellous 
thing! 

Second, a Secret Sin. Here we touch the lowest part 
of our nature. A dog with a bone sneaks off to a cor- 
ner of the garden and buries it, watching meanwhile out 
of the corners of his eyes that none may know his secret. 



SEVEN WONDERS. *]>] 

So we bury our darling sins, so we flatter ourselves that 
none shall ever find us out. An Egyptian princess died 
four thousand years ago and her body was committed to 
a company of priests for embalming. They said, " Let us 
save ourselves the trouble; it will never be known." So 
they dipped the body of a common Egyptian into bitumen 
and placed it in the princess' casket. It was a clever 
trick ; but a few years ago, before a company of scientists 
at Tremont Temple, gathered together to witness the un- 
swathing of the royal mummy, the bands of byssus were 
unwound and the fraud perpetrated by those priests, now 
forty centuries dead and turned to dust, was detected. 
There is indeed nothing hidden that shall not be brought 
to light, and that which is done in a corner shall be pro- 
claimed on the housetop. " Thou hast set our iniquity 
before thee, our secret sins in the light of thy countenance !" 
Noonday, calcium light, electric light, the terrible light- 
ning showing the landscape for one vivid instant — what 
are these to the flames glowing from the eyes of a justly 
indignant God ? 

O man, keep thyself from secret faults, for the trum- 
pets shall blazon them forth in the last day ; they shall be 
written as in flame across the heavens. The fiends shall 
deride thee for them, the angels shall weep. 

Third, a Reprobate's Latigh. Not long ago I heard 
the merry laughter of a girl and looked that way. A 
carriage was passing by. Through the open window I 
saw two women, the one old, haggard, bedizened — it was 
easy to discern her vocation — the other a sweet-faced 
girl late from some country home, going garlanded to 
death. God help her ! 

How dare they laugh who are hurrying on unprepared 
to the judgment bar ? Yet they are making merry every- 



78 "THE MORNING COMETH." 

where. The dice are rattling in the upper rooms, the 
revellers are staggering along the streets, the ungodly are 
making their merry quips— it is enough to break an 
angel's heart to hear it. An asylum is afire ; a wretched 
creature sits aloft watching the blazing rafters, wringing 
his hands and shrieking with laughter — it is the merriest 
moment of his life ; the walls sway,* creak, fall in a mass 
of flaming ruins ! It is a parable of the false revelry of 
the wicked. O men and women, let us be safe and then 
be merry. Let us never laugh again until our peace is 
made with God. 

Fourth, a Christians Groan. We profess to believe 
that the past is forgiven, all gone like a nightmare, and 
that heaven is open before us and that Christ walks with 
us, an ever-present and helpful friend. If a man believes 
these things, how can he ever hang his head like a bul- 
rush ? Surely something is wrong. If his sins are for- 
given, if glory is sure, he ought to be singing, " Praise 
God, from whom all blessings flow." He ought, like the 
cripple at the Beautiful Gate of the Temple, whom 
Peter healed, to be " walking and leaping and praising 
God." 

One- night in Newgate prison a man sang cheerily and 
swung like a boy on the post of his bed. " Fine shining 
shall we have to-morrow !" Who is this and what 
" shining " shall there be ? This is John Bradford, and 
to-morrow he is to die at the stake. But what matter, if 
the day after to-morrow he shall be in the midst of the 
merry-making of heaven ? Why shall he not with glad- 
some heart be praising God ? 

The joy of the Christian should be as the joy of the 
spring-time, as the song of the vintage, as the rejoicing 
over treasure found, as the shouting of those who divide 



SEVEN WONDERS. 79 

the spoil. The world knows full well that if we are sin- 
cere in our profession of belief we cannot but be light- 
hearted. Our God hath girded us with gladness, he hath 
compassed us about with songs. 

Fifth, a Tattered Livery, Our Lord tells of a marriage 
feast whereat a certain one was found who had not on 
the wedding gown. His host remonstrated with him, 
" Friend, how earnest thou in hither in this garb?" And 
the man was silent. We are going to the Marriage Sup- 
per of the Lamb. Our heavenly Host has provided for us 
fine linen, clean and white, which is the righteousness of 
the saints ; as it is written, " Come now, let us reason 
together, saith the Lord : though your sins be as scarlet 
they shall be as snow ; though they be red like crimson, 
they shall be as wool." To appear in that heavenly 
presence clad in our own righteousness is to be found 
arrayed in rags and tatters, for all our righteousnesses are 
as filthy rags. 

Oh how preposterous to suppose that our poor virtues 
should entitle us to recognition at the heavenly court ! 
To think of God bartering the incalculable riches of 
eternal life for our poor invoice of good works ! Unclothe 
yourself, O friend, and be clothed upon with the imputed 
virtue of the crucified Redeemer. 

Nor are all the self-righteous outside the charmed 
circle of the Christian Church. To trust in the virtue of 
devotional pomp and ceremonial, of baptismal water or 
sacramental elements, is to prepare for ourselves an eternal 
disappointment. " To the angel of the Church of the Lao- 
diceans write : Thou sayest, I am rich and increased with 
goods, and have need of nothing ; and knowest not that 
thou art wretched and miserable and poor and blind and 
naked : I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, 



80 "THE MORNING COMETH." 

that thou mayest be rich ; and white raiment, that thou 
mayest be clothed and that the shame of thy nakedness 
do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eye- salve, that 
thou mayest see." 

"Jesus, Thy blood and righteousness 
My beauty are, my glorious dress ; 
'Midst flaming worlds, in these arrayed, 
With joy shall I lift up my head." 

Sixth, an Averted Face. A few days ago, at a hanging 
in a neighboring State, it is said that twenty thousand peo- 
ple left town and tramped four miles along a country road 
to see a poor wretch swung from the gallows-tree. There 
is, indeed, something brutal in our human nature. When 
our Lord Jesus was dying on the accursed tree it is writ- 
ten, " The people stood beholding." He was bearing 
their sins in his own body yonder, the iron of retributive 
justice had entered his soul, he was being wounded for 
their transgressions and bruised for their iniquities, that 
by his stripes they might be healed, and they stood with 
cold eyes " beholding." Ay, there is something brutal in 
our human nature. 

Is it strange that men should look on anguish with a 
calm delight? Was it strange that men could look at 
Jesus dying and feel no responsive thrill of sympathy? 
Ah ! a thousand times stranger is it that some of us 
should refuse to look upon him ! We hide, as it were, 
our faces from him ; he is despised and we esteem him 
not. 

He came to die for us, he came to set an example of 
ideal manhood, of perfect character. He came to offer 
us a helping hand for the lifting of life's burdens, the en- 
during of the ills which human flesh is heir to, but we 



SEVEN WONDERS. 8 1 

turn away our faces from him. He is here now, as if 
we could behold him clad in garments like the sun and 
offering all the treasures of eternal life for the taking. 
O poor blind eyes of ours that cannot see him ! O stu- 
pid hearts, O palsied wills, that will not behold him ! 

Seventh, a Waiting God. " Behold, I stand at the door 
and knock. If any man will open unto me, I will come 
in and sup with him and he with me." Wonderful pa- 
tience ! Love that passeth knowledge ! His arms are 
loaded with the dainties of the kingdom, apples and 
pomegranates from the King's gardens, and bread of life. 
Oh let us draw the bolts that he may come in and sup 
with us ! 

" Knocking, knocking, who is there? 
Waiting, waiting, oh how fair! 
'Tis a Pilgrim, strange and kingly, 

Never such was seen before. 
Ah, my soul, for such a wonder 
Wilt thou not undo the door? ,, 

He hath not dealt with us after our sins nor rewarded 
us according to our iniquities. If he had, we should not 
be here. Were he to do so, the next thunder-bolt from 
heaven would seal our doom. We have kept him out- 
side our closed hearts, lo, these many years, and still he 
w r aits. When we w r ere children the dear mother told us 
the sweet story of the Saviour's love and bade us prom- 
ise to love Him. Years passed, and the sermon from the 
village pulpit may have touched us and half moved us 
to resolution. We said, " To-morrow I will surrender to 
him." The years passed, and some of us are bent and 
gray and our hearts are hard and our wills are stubborn, 
and still he stands without the door — a sight to fill won- 
dering angels with awe and pity. 

6 



82 "THE MORNING COMETH." 

" Knocking, knocking — what, still there ? 
Waiting, waiting, grand and fair ; 
Yes, the pierced hand still knocketh, 

And beneath the crowned hair 

Beam the patient eyes so tender 

Of thy Saviour waiting there." 

Oh look upon him, the chiefest among ten thousand 
and altogether lovely ! All heaven is aglow with the 
splendor of his face. Hear him say, " Open, and I will 
come in!" Why not this hour? Why not draw the 
bolts and say, " Come in, thou Blessed One, come in 
and sup with me !" 



A WORLDLY WISEMAN. 83 

SOLOMON; OR, A WORLDLY WISEMAN 
AT HIS BEST. 



" The words of the preacher, the son of David, king in Jerusalem. 
Vanity of vanities, saith the preacher, vanity of vanities ; all 
is vanity." — Eccl. 1:1, 2. 

In the last year of David's reign a band of conspira- 
tors met together in the gardens of En-rogel. Their 
design was to frustrate the king's plans as to the succes- 
sion by placing his elder son, the wicked Adonijah, on the 
throne. It was presumed that David was too old and 
feeble to oppose them. But they reckoned without their 
host. The plot having been revealed to him, his languid 
energies revived like fire from the ashes, and David 
was himself again. "As the Lord liveth," said he, " Solo- 
mon shall reign after me." At his command the young 
prince was mounted upon the royal mule and sent to the 
Fountain Gihon, escorted by a stately retinue, to be for- 
mally inaugurated. The sacred oil was poured upon his 
bushy locks, the trumpet gave the signal, and the people 
with one accord cried out, " God save King Solomon !" 
In their festivities at En-rogel the conspirators heard the 
distant cry; a few moments later a herald brought the 
tidings, " David hath anointed Solomon." The meeting 
was broken up in confusion and the treasonable oaths of 
allegiance to Adonijah were given to the winds. 

Not long afterwards the youthful king was summoned 
to the death-bed of his father. The last words of David 
were worthy of him : " My son, know thou the God of 



84 "THE MORNING COMETH/' 

thy father and serve him with a perfect heart. If thou 
seek him he will be found of thee; but if thou forsake him 
he will cast thee off for ever. I go the way of all the 
earth; be thou strong, therefore, and show thyself a man." 
With these admonitory yet hopeful words the eventful 
reign of David passed over into that of Solomon. 

And never was sunrise brighter than the beginning of 
this administration, with the promise of a cloudless 
day. 

On the high places of Gibeon the coronation ceremo- 
nies were terminated by a royal sacrifice. One hundred 
and twenty thousand sheep and two and twenty thousand 
oxen were consumed upon the altars. After this magnifi- 
cent oblation the newly crowned king fell into a profound 
sleep, in which the Lord appeared to him, saying, " What 
shall I give thee?" Important moment! Portentous 
offer ! Young, earnest, with life's splendor all before him, 
how natural if he should ask for wealth or pleasure or 
glorious conquest. But hear his request : " O my God, I 
am but a little child ; I know not how to rule this so great 
people. I know not how to go out or come in before 
thee : give me therefore an understanding heart." Bless- 
ed is the man who can say, 

" I am a scholar, and my God my tutor is, 
Who from above 
All that want learning to his school invites." 

Here is the gracious promise : " If any of you lack wis- 
dom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally 
and upbraideth not, and it shall be given him." 

As Solomon eventually did many foolish and wicked 
things, it is important to ascertain the nature of this wis- 
dom for which the young monarch prayed and with which 
he was so preeminently endowed. It was obviously not 



A WORLDLY WISEMAN. 85 

that wisdom which has to do with spiritual things, the wis- 
dom which seeks the perfection of religious character and 
the attainment of eternal life. It would have been well for 
Solomon, as the sequel shows, had he sought this envia- 
ble gift, for he lived to discover the truth so sadly uttered 
by the despairing Faust : 

" I have heaped upon my brain 
The gathered treasures of man's thought, in vain. 
The tree of knowledge is not that of life." 

The wisdom of Solomon was such as would be re- 
quired for the management of governmental affairs. It 
was aptitude for liberal culture, clearness of discernment, 
and practical sagacity for the administration of his royal 
office. 

He was the most learned scholar of his time, the Au- 
gustus of Jewish letters. The rabbis have a tradition that 
his manuscripts fell into the hands of Aristotle, who de- 
rived from them all that is best in his philosophy. Be that 
as it may, he was the patron of learning. He " built an 
house of wisdom on seven pillars," in other words, a uni- 
versity. He himself was a scientist of no mean reputa- 
tion. He spake of trees, from the wide-spreading cedar 
to the hyssop that springeth from the wall. He spake of 
birds and beasts and creeping things. He wrote three 
thousand proverbs, the juices expressed from shrewdness 
and common sense so as to be portable and convenient for 
the needs of common life. His songs were a thousand 
and five. He wrote an epithalamium which is rightly 
called the Song of Songs. Who has ever written so 
sweetly of the springtime : " My beloved spake and said 
unto me, Rise up, my love, my fair one, and come away. 
For lo, the wi?iter is past, the rain is over and gone ; the 



86 "THE MORNING COMETH." 

flowers appear on the earth ; the time of the singing of 
birds is come, and the voice of the turtle is heard in our 
land ; the fig-tree putteth forth her green figs, and the 
vines with the tender grape give a good smell. Arise, my 
love, my fair one, and come away." 

But the wisdom that Solomon most fervently craved 
was such as he required for the governing of this so great 
people, and was to discern judgment, i. e., for the admin- 
istration of justice. As king of the theocracy he com- 
bined in himself all the various functions of the govern- 
ment, the legislative, the judicial, and the executive. He 
was eminent for his skill in discovering the clew of real 
evidence in the maze of conflicting testimony, as in the 
case of the two mothers who contended for the living 
child. The years of his administration were character- 
ized by an unwonted peace. His people dwelt securely, 
every man under his own vine and fig-tree, from Dan 
even unto Beersheba. The neighboring tribes were either 
allied in friendly intercourse or held in check by a vigor- 
ous display of martial force. The king's very name was 
a benediction — Shelomoh, the peaceful. For the first time 
in the history of Israel an extensive commerce was car- 
ried on with foreign lands. Down at Ezion-geber the ship- 
builders were at work. Fleets sailed out to Ophir and 
to Sheba, bearing wine and oil and barley, and returned 
with ivory, gold and precious stones, and other commod- 
ities of those distant lands. This maritime traffic, besides 
extensive commerce with Egypt, Tyre, and the Valley of 
the Euphrates, was under the control of the king; he was 
the prince of merchant princes ; wealth poured into his ex- 
chequer. He built for himself a magnificent palace— its 
pillars of cedar, its capitals of gold — and suspended on 
its outer walls a thousand golden shields. The royal feasts 



A WORLDLY WISEMAN. _ 87 

were superb. The drinking- vessels were of gold ; none 
was of silver, because silver was nothing thought of in the 
days of Shelomoh. The daily allowance of the royal 
household was one hundred sheep and thirty oxen, with 
harts and fallow deer and fatted fowl. The king's gar- 
dens were called paradises. His stables were furnished 
with four thousand stalls. It is difficult in these days of 
republican simplicity to form a just conception of such a 
royal establishment. But grander than all this gorgeous 
array was the king himself when he appeared in the cha- 
riot of state, bright and ruddy, stalv/art, sceptre in hand, 
sword upon thigh, guards around, archers following after, 
robes perfumed with myrrh and aloes, flowing hair pow- 
dered with dust of gold. Such was the personage in 
whom our Lord himself found the idea of regal splen- 
dor, "Solomon in all his glory." 

But the picture has a dark side. It is said that in the 
staff on which this ruler leaned was a worm which ever 
slowly gnawed it asunder. One sin stands out black and 
forbidding against the dazzling background of Solomon's 
splendor : it is his profound and all-pervading selfishness. 
He ruled for his own glory. His rare endowment was 
expended on mere mental and physical enjoyment, while 
the divine Giver was ignored. His commerce stretched 
forth its Briarean hands and gathered the world's treasure 
into his own insatiable grasp. His wealth was used with 
a prodigality never equalled, not for the development of 
the natural resources of the kingdom, but to gratify his 
own voluptuous tastes. In his harem were seven hundred 
wives and three hundred concubines ; and these seduced 
him to the worship of false gods. At his command shrines 
were built in the imperial gardens to the honor of idols, 
impure, bloody, and altogether abominable. How are the 



88 "THE MORNING COMETH. 

mighty fallen ! and how is the fine gold dimmed ! " O 
Solomon," cries Bishop Hall, "where was thy wisdom 
while thy vain affections were running away with thee into 
such vile voluptuousness? The perfection of sagacity 
does not argue the inward power of self-government. 
Thine eye may be clear but thy hand palsied." And 
then he adds in his own quaint way, " How many a man 
have I known whose head was thus broken with his own 
rib!" 

There is nothing sadder in history than the story of 
this wise man's fall — Solomon so gloriously endowed, so 
splendidly equipped, and going down to his grave with 
" Fool " written across his brow. We have seen Adam 
hiding his shame among the trees in the garden, Noah 
drunken and uncovered at noonday, Samson blind, bound 
with brazen fetters, grinding at the mill, David playing 
the idiot and scrabbling on the gates of Gath ; but we have 
never seen a more sad and shameful sight than this — Solo- 
mon among his concubines, bowing his silvery locks be- 
fore the smoking altars of their idol gods ! 

" So fallen ! so lost ! the light withdrawn 
Which once he wore ! 
The glory from his gray hairs gone 
For evermore ! 

" Of all we loved and honored, naught 
Save power remains — 
A fallen angel's pride of thought, 
Still strong in chains. 

" All else is gone ; from those great eyes 
The soul has fled ; 
When faith is lost, when honor dies, 
The man is dead ! 



A WORLDLY WISEMAN. 89 

"Then pay the reverence of old days 
To his dead fame ; 
Walk backward, with averted gaze, 
And hide the shame I" 

May we not gather up some valuable flotsam and jet- 
sam from this lamentable wreck ? 

First, the folly of self-dependence. Let him that 
thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall. Solomon 
leaned upon his own strength and found it a broken reed 
that pierced his hand. Plato was accustomed to say that 
the conclusive mark of manhood was self-dependence. 
But danger lies that way* 

Try it, O man with a burden of sorrow upon thee ! 
Try it, O brother, O friend, in thy conflict with an evil 
habit ! Try it and see how thy strength is reduced to 
utter weakness. No, no, we look unto the hills from 
whence cometh our help. The Lord is our strength, our 
sun, and our salvation. His gentleness shall make us 
great. 

Second. The folly of self-pampering, or (shall we say ?) 
of grand larceny ; for talents are trust funds, and to use 
them upon self is to rob God. At the first Solomon real- 
ized this. He drained his revenues to build a temple for 
the worship of Jehovah, a marvel of architectural magni- 
ficence. But as he grew older and the world took firmer 
hold upon him he abandoned the holy house and gave his 
homage to self; his god was his belly, his glory was in his 
shame. His downfall is a warning to all such as, being 
equipped for holy service, do yet prefer, as Lord Bacon 
says, " goodness personal and practical rather than sem- 
inal and generative. " The word of the Master with respect 
to our talents is this : " Trade ye herewith till I come." 
And his blessing is upon those who at the last can say, 



90 "THE MORNING COMETH." 

" Lord, here is thy pound ; it hath gained thee yet another 
pound." 

Third. A lesson as to pride of culture, or intellectual 
vertigo — a dangerous sort of softening of the brain. It is 
a true saying that knowledge is power. It would be 
equally true to say that knowledge is weakness ; for all 
depends upon our way of using it. How hardly shall they 
that be learned be saved. It is easier for a camel to pass 
through the eye of a needle than for them that trust in 
knowledge to enter into the kingdom of God. 

The wisdom of the wisest philosopher is, by the side 
of omniscience, as the spark of the glow-worm in the shi- 
ning of the noonday sun. Our extremest wisdom is fool- 
ishness with God. It were better to be an idiot than to 
presume upon our culture or to oppose ourselves by rea- 
son of mental acquirements against the prescriptions of 
the all-wise God. 

What then is wisdom and where is the place of under- 
standing ? "I am the Way," said Jesus, " and the Truth 
and the Life. No man cometh unto the Father save by 
me." He is the Wisdom that standeth at the corner of the 
street, in his left hand riches and in his right length of days. 
There is nothing better than to know God and his Incar- 
nate Word. For except ye become as little children ye 
shall in no wise enter into the kingdom of God. It is 
pleasant to believe that Solomon came to himself in 
his last days. The rabbis tell of his public confession 
before the Sanhedrin and how the king went barefoot 
about the streets, like a mendicant friar, saying, " Give 
alms, give alms !" A better ground for belief of his 
after repentance is found in the book of Ecclesiastes. 
In this monologue we have his sober second thought. 
Experience is a bitter school, but fools will learn in no 



A WORLDLY WISEMAN. 9 1 

other. Solomon has learned his lesson, his soul is now 
escaped out of the hand of the fowler, the snare is broken 
and he is delivered. Thus he reviews the past: " Vanity 
of vanities, saith the preacher ; all is vanity. I looked on 
all that my hands had wrought, and behold all was vanity 
and a striving after wind. I said, Go to, I will try thee with 
mirth ; therefore enjoy pleasure : and behold this also is 
vanity. I said, I will be wise, but it was far from me. I 
applied my heart to know and search out wisdom and the 
reason of things, and lo, this also was vanity and vexation 
of spirit. Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: 
Fear God and keep his commandments. ,, 

To you, O young men and women, for whom the 
future smiles like L' Allegro with wreathed hands and 
tripping feet, beckoning to a life of pleasure ; to you, men 
and women cumbered with much serving, ambitious to be 
rich, to be learned, to occupy the highest seats ; to you 
all, fellow-travellers to the eternal world, leaving Kib- 
broth-hattaavah where the graves of lust are, passing Van- 
ity Fair where all the houses are card-houses and all the 
visioned plans are only bubbles painted with rainbows ; 
to you, O sons and daughters of the living God, divine in 
birth and destiny, come the last words of Solomon, " Let 
us hear the conclusion of the whole matter : Fear God and 
keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man." 



92 "THE MORNING COMETH/ 



ASKING THE WAY. 



" They shall ask the way to Zion with their faces thitherward, say- 
ing, Come, and let us join ourselves to the Lord in a perpet- 
ual covenant that shall not be forgotten." Jer. 50:5. 

The children of Israel had been in exile nearly seventy- 
years. One generation had gone and another had come. 
Their memory of former days in Palestine was as a dream. 
They had been told by their fathers of the time when 
every one had dwelt in peace under his own vine and fig- 
tree, of that golden age when the sceptre was wielded 
by Solomon in his glory, of the flocks and herds, of 
bountiful harvests and songs of the vintage. They had 
heard of the temple so exceeding magnifical and of its 
splendid ritual, solemn pageantry, and antiphonal services ; 
of the caravans of pilgrims, the booths on the hill-sides, 
the smoking altars, the effusion of waters ; and they wept 
when they remembered these things. They were loyal 
to their traditions. To this day, the world over, the 
Israelites keep their morale as they keep their physiogno- 
my. So their harps were hung upon the willows. By 
the Babylonish rivers they renewed their vows. " If I 
forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget her 
cunning. If I do not remember thee, let my tongue cleave 
to the roof of my mouth, if I prefer not Jerusalem above 
my chief joy." 

The captivity was now drawing to a close. A time- 
limit had been set. For a period of four hundred and 
ninety years they had disregarded the Sabbatical lav/; 



ASKING THE WAY. 93 

seventy Sabbatical years neglected — year for year they 
must expiate their sin. Now there were intimations that 
deliverance was at hand and that Babylon was soon to 
fall. 

At this point a question of practical importance oc- 
curred to them. Where is the way to Zion ? 

We also are in exile, we are of the blood royal, we 
have gone far from the Father's house. Our human nature 
is like a ruined temple in which the echo of old hymns 
and prayers still lingers and where a spectral Levite walks 
and murmurs of a lost glory. Hence our longing to re- 
turn. All souls in their lowest depths are troubled to 
know the way of everlasting life. It is this universal 
consensus of aspiration which led Plato to speak of the 
" wings of our preexistent state." The homesick are 
everywhere. The prodigal in the far country is ever di- 
vided betwixt two, whether to rest content in his sordid 
surroundings or to say, with a noble impulse, " I will 
arise and go to my Father." The world is full of men 
and women who as Jesus passes by are half moved to 
throw themselves before him as the young ruler did, cry- 
ing, " What shall I do that I may inherit eternal life ?" 

It is our vocation, as ministers of the gospel, to point 
out the way to Zion. A grave responsibility rests upon 
us. Not long ago a signal man swung a white lantern as 
the railroad train swept by. On it went with impetuous 
speed until, on a sudden, there came a shock like a thun- 
der-bolt and the train plunged down an embankment. 
The cars were piled one upon another, and oh the shriek- 
ing and praying then ! Who shall depict the anguish of 
that scene ? Its record will be told on grave-stones and 
in the sable garments of the mourners who go about the 
streets. It was all because of the mistaken signal. He 



94 "THE MORNING COMETH." 

swung the white light when it should have been a red 
signal of danger. Who then is sufficient to stand in this 
sacred place and direct souls into the way of spiritual 
life ? No one of us could dare do this thing were it not 
that we have a sure oracle. We turn to the Scriptures 
for our authority, and can do it with a clear conscience 
because these Scriptures are the veritable word of God. 
Here are promises and admonitions to direct us like the 
guide-boards along the way to the ancient cities of refuge. 
This way to safety ! This way to deliverance from death ! 
This way to the kingdom of God ! 

At the outset we are admonished in these Scriptures 
that there is only one way to Zion. It used to be a prov- 
erb, " All roads lead to Rome." In the centre of the Fo- 
rum was a golden mile-stone, Milliarium Aureum, whereat 
all thoroughfares converged. If a traveller even in a dis- 
tant province should ask, " Which way to Rome ?" the 
answer would be, " Keep on and you will reach the golden 
mile-stone." There are those who seem to think that all 
ways, in like manner, lead to heaven's gate. If you are 
only sincere, keep on and you will get there. But alas, 
the Scriptures speak with a different voice : " There is a 
way which seemeth right to a man, but the end thereof is 
death." All roads lead out into the wilderness save one, 
and that is the King's highway, whereof the prophets 
spake, "A highway shall be there, and a way, and it 
shall be called the way of holiness." Here went the 
prophets and the patriarchs : Enoch walking with God ; 
Abraham with a far-away look in his eyes, looking for a 
better country, even a heavenly, and for a city that hath 
foundations, whose builder and maker is God ; Isaiah with 
his eyes full of visions, singing as he went, until he fell in 
with a company of the ransomed who came to Zion with 



ASKING THE WAY. 95 

songs and everlasting joy upon their heads. This way- 
went Polycarp and Ignatius and all the noble army of 
martyrs. There is blood in their foot-prints. Here 
passed along our fathers and mothers whom we shall 
presently meet in the golden streets. 

The ages have in no wise shortened the journey nor 
improved the thoroughfare. A railway has been laid 
from Joppa to Jerusalem. When Jonah trudged that way 
alone, in a vain desire to escape from the face of the Lord, 
it was a two days' journey. It required nearly as long 
when Solomon rode in his chariot of state to view the 
rafts of cedar that had been floated from the north. Now 
the journey is made in two short hours. But the King's 
highway to the heavenly Zion is just as it used to be. 
Truth and righteousness never change. The flail, the 
spinning-wheel, the stage-coach have all gone their way; 
but there are some things which cannot change. The air 
we breathe is the same that Adam breathed; the sun- 
light is the same that sifted through the mists of primitive 
chaos ; and water is the same as when Jesus, being athirst, 
sat upon the curb of Jacob's well and tipped the water-jar 
to his lips. The gospel is like air, like sunlight, like 
spring water, the same always and unchangeable. 

" We go the way the prophets went, 
The way that leads from banishment, 
The King's highway of holiness." 

First, the King's highway leads down through the 
valley of Bochim, the place of tears. In other words, re- 
pentance is prerequisite to an entrance into life. 

I know this is an old-fashioned doctrine. Time was 
when sinners came beating upon their breasts. 

"Show pity, Lord; O Lord, forgive, 
Let a repenting rebel live ■" 



g6 "THE MORNING COMETH." 

But there is a generation now, oh how lofty are their eyes 
and their eyelids are lifted up ! In these days men and 
women come into the kingdom with heads erect and 
hearts unbroken. The old hymns of godly contrition 
have gone out of fashion. Nevertheless John the Baptist 
is ever the forerunner of Jesus, crying, Repent ye! repent 
ye ! If the rent is to be healed the needle of the Law 
must enter before the thread of the Gospel. The heart 
must be broken before it can be bound up. 

The duty of repentance has behind it the tremendous 
fact of sin. Sin is a dreadful thing, just as dreadful now 
as when David cried for mercy or the publican sighed, 
" God be merciful to me a sinner!" A wrong conception 
of sin is a mortal error. Sin is not a flaw in our nature, 
not a defect, not a misdemeanor. Sin is in the nature of 
lese-majeste, a capital offence against a just, holy, and jeal- 
ous God. It surely ends in spiritual and eternal death. 

To repent is to make a frank acknowledgment of sin 
and to forsake it. Is there aught unreasonable in this ? 
If I have wronged a fellow-man do I not count it a point 
of honor to make amends to him ? Shall we not observe 
as high a rule of honor and manliness in our attitude to 
God as we do in our human relationships ? If I offend 
shall I not make the amende honorable ? It is the right 
and manly thing to repent towards God. 

Secondly, the King's highway runs over the hill of 
Atonement. It is the royal way of the Cross. 

The Law speaks on Calvary. It says to the sinner, 
" The soul that sinneth it shall die." Nor is it possible to 
exaggerate the dreadfulness of that death. The Lord 
spoke of it under the figure of fire and the undying worm. 
If we abandon the literal meaning of these words we 
must not destroy the sharpness of their truth. 



ASKING THE WAY. 97 

To Christ also the law speaks : Thou mayest expiate 
the sinner's guilt. The sword awakes against the Shep- 
herd. The only-begotten Son of God, assuming our 
place before the law, is wounded for our transgressions 
and bruised for our iniquities. He dies that we may 
live. But between the sinner with the death-sentence 
resting upon him and Christ suspended upon the shame- 
ful cross there is a mighty chasm. How can the innocent 
suffer for the guilty? and what avails it for the sinner 
that Jesus dies ? Over that chasm faith springs a mighty 
arch. By divine appointment the exercise of faith on the 
part of the sinner is made the sole condition of salvation. 
He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life. Does 
any one object? Who can interpose an objection? The 
parties to this covenant of grace are the Father, his only- 
begotten Son, and the sinner. If these parties to the cov- 
enant all consent, who shall prevent the consummation of 
this glorious Atonement ? The Father is willing, the Son 
is willing, and if I, the sinner, am willing, the covenant 
holds and I live. 

Thus it is written : " There is therefore now no con- 
demnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk 
not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. For the law of the 
Spirit of life in Jesus Christ hath made me free from the 
law of sin and death. For what the law could not do, in 
that it was weak through the flesh, God, sending his own 
Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, condemned 
sin in the flesh. What shall we then say to these 
things ? If God be for us, who can be against us ? He 
that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for 
us all, how shall he not also freely give us all things? 
For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor an- 
gels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor 

7 



g8 "THE MORNING COMETH." 

things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other crea- 
ture, shall be able to separate us from the love of God 
which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." 

Thirdly, The King's highway runs thenceforth across 
the open country to heaven's gate. No skulking here ! 
With the heart man believeth unto righteousness and 
with the lips confession is made unto salvation. 

It is sometimes held that religion is a secret principle 
that hides behind the lattice, a shy and modest thing. 
For this there is no warrant in Scripture. The Lord did 
lift up his voice against the blowing of the trumpets in 
giving alms and the making of long prayers on the cor- 
ners of the streets and the broadening of the fringes and 
phylacteries ; but he said also, " Ye are the light of the 
world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hid. Neither 
do men light a candle and put it under a bushel, but on 
a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the 
house. Let your light so shine before men that they 
may see your good works and glorify your Father which 
is in heaven." There is no reason anywhere to believe 
that true piety dwelling in the human heart is like that 
maid in "Twelfth Night," who 

" never told her love, 
But let concealment, like a worm i' the bud, 
Feed on her damask cheek." 

If I have found a Saviour, and the joy of the great dis- 
covery has come into my heart, I cannot but sing my ho- 
sannas. The power of godliness is like ointment in the 
hand, which ever bewrayeth itself. 

This then is the heavenward way, through the valley 
of Bochim, across the hill of Atonement, and along the 
open to the kingdom of God. These are the prerequi- 



ASKING THE WAY. 99 

sites of life, Repent, believe, and be baptized, i. e n give 
an outward token of your inward faith. 

If any of us are asking the way to Zion, with face 
turned thitherward, the Lord now calls us. It is a happy 
journey and glory is at its end. In Bunyan's dream he 
saw that Christian and Hopeful, having passed beyond 
the enchanted ground and the valley of shadows, came to 
the land of singing birds and blooming flowers. In the 
far distance the heavenly city glowed in the sun and at 
length the pilgrims came to the King's gardens where 
they ate of the grapes and pomegranates and passed on. 
Then shining ones came out to meet them from the in- 
numerable company of angels and just men made perfect, 
and these greeted them, saying, " Blessed are ye that are 
called to the marriage supper of the Lamb." On they 
went with singing and trumpets, nearer and nearer to the 
Heavenly City. And now they were so near they could 
read above its gates, " Blessed are they that do his com- 
mandments, that they may have right to enter in." And 
then the gates were opened and voices said unto them, 
" Enter into the joy of your Lord." And the dreamer 
saw as they passed in that they were transfigured. He 
looked in for a moment through the gates and caught a 
glimpse of the ineffable glory, saw the heavenly company 
walking to and fro, heard the singing, and then they shut 
to the gates. ''Which," says the dreamer, "when I had 
seen, I wished myself among them !" O friends in the 
Lord Jesus Christ, we shall be presently among them ; 
we shall behold the glory, mingle with the heavenly 
throng, have part in the triumphant chorus, and be for 
ever with the Lord ! 



100 "THE MORNING COMETH/ 



THE WORK OF THE COMFORTER. 



t( Nevertheless I tell you the truth: it is expedient for you that I go 
away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto 
you ; but if I depart, I will send him unto you. And when he 
is come he will reprove the world of sin and of righteousness 
and of judgment: of sin, because they believed not on me ; of 
righteousness, because I go to my Father and ye see me no 
more ; of judgment, because the prince of this world is judged. " 
John 16:7-11. 

In the days of man's innocency he held communion 
with God as one friend with another. They walked to- 
gether in the garden "in the cool of the day." There 
were strange confidences, wonderful trysts. We cannot 
understand it. 

Then came the fall, and with it alienation : the two 
friends parted. Manifestations of God thereafter were 
mere glimpses, an occasional theophany, the Angel of the 
Covenant or a shadowy presence known only by the rust- 
ling of his garments. The time came, however, when 
God bowed the heavens and came down and dwelt among 
men. He took flesh upon him and walked along the 
common thoroughfares of life. We can understand that. 
Men saw him, clasped hands with him, ate with him. He 
was their fellow. Was it not a glorious privilege to look 
upon this incarnate God and talk with him by the way ? 
Of all the songs our children sing none is sweeter than 
this : 

"I think, when I read that sweet story of old, 
When Jesus was here among men, 
How he called little children as lambs to his fold ; 
I should like to have been with them then. 



THE WORK OF THE COMFORTER. IOI 

" I wish that his hands had been placed on my head, 
That his arm had been thrown around me, 
And that I might have seen his kind look when he said, 
1 Let the little ones come unto me.'" 

I arn not sure, however, that ours is not a far more bless- 
ed privilege. He has indeed vanished out of our sight ; 
his face is a sweet memory, a blissful hope; but his spir- 
itual presence is with us. 

" It is expedient/' said he, " that I go away from you ; 
for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come ; but if 
I depart, I will send him unto you." This Jesus had been 
with them as child and man for thirty years. They had 
heard his words and were prepared to say, " Never man 
spake like this man." They had seen his works and could 
testify, " No man could do these things except God were 
with him." And what was the result? A little group of 
fishermen and other humble folk had gathered about 
him. That was all. To outward seeming his work was 
a fiasco. His announced purpose was to revolutionize 
the spiritual structure of the world ; but what an insignifi- 
cant outcome ! 

Where was the trouble ? It lay in the limitations of 
the flesh. All bodily presence is weak. No man in the 
flesh has ever attained to universal conquest or ever will. 
Caesar ? 

" Imperial Caesar, dead and turned to clay, 
May stop a hole to keep the wind away." 

Alexander? When all was told he lay dead under his 
supper-table. Napoleon ? In lonely, friendless exile he 
wore away his life. If a man is going to lift the world, 
the fulcrum of his lever must be set outside of it. 

So long as Jesus dwelt among his disciples they were 
wholly dependent upon his bodily presence. One night, 



102 "THE MORNING COMETH. 

while rowing across the Sea of Gennesaret, the storm fell 
upon them and they were overwhelmed with fear. What 
at that moment was their Master's power to them ? Yet 
he was only three miles away. Their faith was so sensu- 
ous it reached only to their finger-tips. He must there- 
fore vanish out of their sight; for their sake, for the 
world's sake, he must leave them. 

Lycurgus who, about 900 B. C, prepared a code of 
laws for Sparta, believing that his personal presence was 
a hindrance to the just observance of that code, mys- 
teriously disappeared and was never seen or heard of. 
In like manner, to secure the legitimate fruits of his min- 
istry Christ must go away. 

But when he vanished he left behind him a bequest 
which was to be a manifold equivalent for every loss. 
The Holy Ghost, his last and unspeakable gift, was not 
hemmed in by any environment of time or space. To 
this Omnipresent Power the work was now to be trans- 
ferred, and he was to carry it on unto " the restitution of 
all things." The followers of Jesus would indeed know 
him no more after the flesh, but they would know him 
far more gloriously and effectively in the power of this 
Spirit of God. 

So he went his way. He bowed his weary shoulders, 
burdened with the world's sorrows, and passed through 
the narrow wicket. And what then ? For a season his 
followers felt that all was over. " I go a-fishing," said 
Peter ; and the others said, " We also go with thee." 

Then, after his resurrection, Christ reappeared and 
remained among his disciples forty days — long enough to 
convince them that whereas he had died he was now 
alive for evermore — long enough to mark out for them 
the plan of the campaign. Then, having emphasized their 



THE WORK OF THE COMFORTER. 103 

great commission, " Go ye everywhere and preach the gos- 
pel,'' he breathed on them, saying, " Receive ye the Holy 
Ghost ;" and the clouds received him out of their sight. 

The gift of the Holy Ghost thus conferred was only 
an earnest of what was to come. Ten days passed by ; 
then, while they were praying in the open court, on a 
sudden the sound of a rushing mighty wind was heard, 
the flame, parting asunder into tongues of fire, sat upon 
each one of them, and they began to speak with divers 
tongues. This advent of the Holy Ghost was signalized 
by the conversion of three thousand in a single day. His 
power is abroad to-day. Through it the Father and the 
Son are working for the regeneration of the world. To 
be clothed with it is to be endued with extraordinary en- 
ergy. The Master promised, after he had gone to the 
Father, that his disciples, being thus energized, should 
perform greater works than his own. The twelve who 
had been unable to cast out an unclean spirit unless their 
Lord stood by, and who, struck with terror, had forsaken 
him in the supreme moment of his agony, now went 
everywhere with holy zeal and courage proclaiming the 
gospel. Souls were converted by tens of thousands. 
The foundations of the ultimate conquest were laid, the 
strategic points were occupied. As time passed the 
power was transferred to other hands; but the Holy 
Spirit wrought through all. 

We are living in this Dispensation of the Spirit. It is 
the golden age of privilege and opportunity. Any one 
who desires may have part in it. The measure of power 
is willingness. The harvest is plenteous, the fields are 
yellow. Go, thrust in a sickle and reap ! 

But the vast multitudes care nothing for this power of 
the Holy Ghost. They are of the earth, earthy. They 



104 "THE MORNING COMETH. 

have low conceptions of spiritual truth. It is as if they 
were hypnotized. They can see coins, wreaths, stone 
houses, monuments — but they are blind to the welfare of 
the world, to eternity and God. Gibbon says that the 
Germans who dwelt along the Rhine and Danube had no 
idea of values. They cared more for earthen vessels 
than for silver vases and traded amber for toys and trink- 
ets. Spiritual things are spiritually discerned. Until our 
misapprehensions of the great verities are corrected we 
shall always prefer a transient and material success to 
those eternal achievements of men baptized from on high 
and made partners in the transcendent work of the Spirit 
of God. 

Let us dwell more specifically upon this function of 
the Holy Ghost in correcting our misapprehensions of 
spiritual truth. This function is threefold : " When the 
Comforter is come he will convict the world in respect of 
sin and of righteousness and of judgment to come." 

First, of sin, " because they believe not on me." 

How little we know about the true character of sin. 
We see its outward tokens in wars and excesses, in vices 
and dishonesties. The newspapers are full of them. 
They thrust themselves upon our notice as we pass along 
the streets. But these are mere symptoms. These are 
not sin, but eruptions of sin. And when we try to cure 
them with chains and prisons and scaffold- trees we are 
merely doctoring the symptoms. The malady itself lies 
deeper down. 

What is sin ? It is enmity against God. Its supreme 
manifestation is not theft or adultery or murder, but the 
rejection of God's well-beloved Son. " This is the con- 
demnation, that men love darkness better than light." 
They will not have Messiah to rule over them. This is 



THE WORK OF THE COMFORTER. 10$ 

the head and front of all offending. This is the un- 
pardonable sin. 

The work of the Holy Ghost is to convict the world 
of sin by showing Christ rejected. On the day of Pente- 
cost, when Peter, with the lambent flame of the Spirit 
upon his forehead, stood up in the midst to preach the 
gospel, he told the multitude of the dreadful thing which 
they had done : " Ye have taken Jesus and with wicked 
hands haye crucified him !" They were made to see 
their hands red with their Messiah's blood. Then, smit- 
ten with sudden anguish, they cried out, "What shall 
we do ?" 

No man knows the character of sin until he has felt 
himself guilty of the great tragedy. 

" 'Twas I that shed that sacred blood, 
I nailed Him to the tree." 

To reject Christ in the clear light of this gospel age is to 
crucify him afresh. It is the work of the mighty Revela- 
tor to lay his hand on our blind eyes that this awful truth 
may flash upon us. 

Second, He convicts the world of righteousness > " be- 
cause I go to my Father and ye see me no more." 

What is righteousness ? Here again our apprehen- 
sion is perverted. The nearest approach to righteous- 
ness with which the natural heart is familiar is morality 
or external presentableness. It is this of which Isaiah 
says, "All our righteousnesses are as filthy rags." Take 
the best man you ever knew and uncover his deepest 
heart, and lo, it is a foul nest of unsuspected things. Our 
personal merit is as rags, tattered, torn, mildewed, moth- 
eaten, defiled, and falling asunder in rotten shreds. 

Another form of righteousness with which we are 



105 "THE MORNING COMETH." 

acquainted is an outward compliance with ceremonial 
law — the form of godliness without the power thereof. 
The poet Shelley says that his father was wont to say, 

4 'At church on Sunday to attend 
Will serve to keep the world your friend." 

There may be truth in this, but it surely cannot com- 
mend us to a holy God. He tells us that many will 
knock at his gate crying, Lord ! Lord ! but shall not be 
able to enter in. 

The Spirit corrects these false and superficial views of 
righteousness by pointing to Christ glorified. He has 
ascended up on high to give gifts unto men. His best 
gift is righteousness. He from his exalted throne ad- 
ministers justification in the pardon of sin. And he 
imputes his own merit also to such as are willing to 
receive it. This is real righteousness, that " fine linen," 
clean and white, which is the righteousness of the saints. 

Third, he reproves the world of judgment \ " because 
the prince of this world is judged." 

" The prince of this world," he says, "is judged," not 
will be. This judgment is now going on. We are in the 
midst of the great controversy. Light and Darkness are 
met at Armageddon. It is a mistake to suppose that 
all judgment is waiting for the blast of the trumpet. The 
trumpet-blast will mark the close of earthly judgment and 
the consummation of all things. 

At the time when the seventy returned to Jesus, re- 
porting that they had been able to heal diseases and do 
all manner of wonderful works in his name, he said — as if 
this working of wonders were but a mere episode in the 
great struggle — as if all along he had known the end from 
the beginning — " I saw Satan fall from heaven." In that 



THE WORK OF THE COMFORTER. 107 

glance of his all history was projected upon the canvas 
before him. He had set out upon a work of universal 
conquest, and all the gates of hell could not prevail 
against him. The victory was sure. He heard already 
the rattling of the chains of the red dragon as he was 
hurled into the smoking pit. 

The history of these nineteen centuries is a continuous 
story of the overthrow of evil. The world was never so 
far advanced in truth and righteousness as it is this day. 
Everything is going right ! Oh that our eyes, like those 
of the Master, might see how truth is ever uppermost, how 
Satan falls from heaven ! The work of the Holy Ghost 
makes optimists. It opens the eyes of the believer to be- 
hold the mountains full of horses and chariots. It dispels 
doubt and cures hypochondria. It attunes our hearts to 
hosannas and hallelujahs. 

Thus the three great facts in the province of spiritual 
truth — Sin, Righteousness, and Judgment — are opened 
up to us by the work of the Comforter. Without his aid 
we cannot understand them. Come, Holy Spirit, come ! 
Come as light to illuminate our dull understanding ! 
Come as the morning dew to refresh our wearied ener- 
gies and give us hopeful and joyous views of spiritual 
truth ! Come as the fire and enkindle within us new 
zeal for holiness, new devotion to the kingdom of God ! 



108 "THE MORNING COMETH/ 



THE MOTHER OF JESUS. 



" Hail, thou that art highly favored ! the Lord is with thee. Blessed 
art thou among women." Luke 1:28. 

If it be true that the angels have joy over the return 
of a wanderer to his Father's house, what a gala day that 
must have been in heaven when one went forth to an- 
nounce that the fulness of time was come for the advent 
of Jesus Christ; for that portended the gathering in 
of a great multitude. The flight of the ambassador sent 
to apprise the world of His near approach was directed 
not to Rome, Athens, or Jerusalem, but to the most ill- 
reputed town in a contemptible province ; and his mes- 
sage was delivered not to any of the great or learned, but 
to a maid of low degree. No doubt she was startled by 
his salutation : " Hail, thou that art highly favored !" and 
it may be easily seen why she was " troubled " by the 
announcement that followed : " Thou shalt bring forth a 
son and call his name Jesus." 

The words of this angel, familiarly known as the "Ave 
Maria," form the first part of the Prayer to the Virgin 
which is made so prominent in the liturgy of the Roman 
Catholic Church. In the sixteenth century was added the 
idolatrous Ora pro nobis : " Holy Mary, mother of God, 
pray for us sinners, now and in the dying hour !" No 
portion of Scripture has been put to baser uses than this 
original Ave Maria ; yet none the less is it worthy of our 
reverential study, as a prelude to the sweetest rhapsody 
that ever fell from an angel's lips. 



THE MOTHER OF JESUS. 109 

Let us take it asunder and learn its lessons with re- 
spect to the Virgin Mother. 

I. The protevangel had said that the serpent's head 
should be bruised by the Seed of the woman. Three thou- 
sand years later Isaiah wrote, " A Virgin shall conceive 
and bear a son and call his name Immanuel." The ap- 
pointed time had come. As by the weakness of one wo- 
man sin had entered into the world, so to another was 
granted the distinguished honor of bringing forth out of 
her travail the Hope of eternal life. This was not by rea- 
son of any peculiar merit of her own. She was not di- 
vine, not even akin with angels. We have no reason to 
suppose that she was even gifted with unusual personal 
charms. Monks in reverie and poets in rhapsody have 
vied with each other in extolling her beauty. One of 
them describes her as " leaning out among the jessamines 
in the window of her home and watching the white clouds 
floating in the azure sky ; young and beautiful, not only 
with the voluptuous necromacy of Oriental grace, but with 
those superior charms which come from riches of the 
soul, of thought and fancy and emotion, which lavish 
themselves in a perfect symmetry of mental and physical 
development ; beautiful after the manner of the Hebrew 
daughters, in raven locks and lustrous eyes and the deep 
glowing complexion of the East, and beautiful besides 
with that radiance which is enkindled by the indwelling 
of a peace that the world knoweth not of." All this is 
unsubstantial as the stuff that dreams are made of. Let 
it suffice that she had common part with us in human na- 
ture, for in this lies the clew of the hicarnation. When 
the fulness of time was come God sent forth his Son made 
of a woman. He took not on him the nature of angels, but 
of men. The Word was made flesh and dwelt among us. 



1 10 a THE MORNING COMETH/' 

" God rest ye all, good Christians ! 
Upon this blessed morn ; 
The Lord of all good Christians 
Was of a woman born. ,, 

II. It is next to be observed that Mary was a sinful 
woman ; she was " one among women," and not above 
them ; being in all points such as we are, not merely in 
the constitution of her being, but in its defilement also. 
She had both inherited sin and committed it. The so- 
called Immaculate Conception of the Virgin has not the 
slightest warrant in reason or holy writ. It reads thus : 
" That the most blessed Virgin Mary, in the first moment 
of her conception, by a special grace and privilege of 
Almighty God, in virtue of the merits of Christ, was pre- 
served immaculate from all stain of original sin." Not so 
have we understood her own words, " My spirit hath re- 
joiced in God my Saviour" That was a sinner's cry. 

Elizabeth Barrett Browning represents the Virgin 
Mother as thus addressing her unconscious child : 

" Sleep, sleep, my Holy One ! 
My flesh, my Lord ! What name ? I do not know 
A name that seemeth not too high or low, 
Too far from me or heaven. 
My Jesus ! that is best ! that word being given 
By the majestic angel whose command 
Was softly as a man's beseeching said, 
When I and all the earth appeared to stand 
In the great overflow 

Of light celestial from his wings and head. 
Sleep! sleep! My Saving One!" 

The doctrine of the sinlessness of Mary was invented by 
the schoolmen in the Middle Ages. After a debate of six 
hundred years in which popes, cardinals, holy fathers and 
philosophers took part, it was at last made an article of 



THE MOTHER OF JESUS. Ill 

faith by a formal decree of Pius IX. on the 8th of Decem- 
ber, 1854. This tenet is the corner-stone of Mariolatry. 
Its germ can be traced as far back as the fourth century ; 
at that time a new word was coined, Tkeotokos, meaning 
" mother of God." By this it was not intended to assert 
that Mary was in any sense mother of the Uncreated Es- 
sence, but the word was liable to this interpretation. The 
right of Mary to the title Theotokos was denied by Nesto- 
rius, who was thereupon condemned for heresy in the 
Council of Ephesus, A. D. 431. His condemners marched 
through the city with torches and swinging censers. 

From that moment we may regard Mariolatry as fairly 
under way. The troubadors celebrated the praises of Mary 
in sacred song, and painters represented her as crowned 
with a diadem of stars. The church began to sing — 

" Hail, virginal mother ! hail, temple divine ! 
The glory of angels and purity's shrine ! 
Thee from eternity 
God did ordain 
Over his household 
As mistress to reign !" 

She was honored with such titles as Queen of Heaven, 
Crown of Virginity, Temple of the living God, Paradise 
of the Second Adam, Dwelling-place of the Trinity, Loom 
of the Incarnation, and Sceptre of Orthodoxy. It was 
declared that through her alone the fallen creature was 
raised to heaven. Thus it came to be impressed upon 
the popular mind that she was deserving not merely of 
reverence but of worship. 

This was at the beginning of the Dark Ages. As 
the inner life of religion was quenched its outer forms 
were multiplied. The walls of the churches were cov- 
ered with pictures of the Madonna. Five hundred years 



112 "THE MORNING COMETH." 

have dimmed but not obliterated the colors of those 
splendid masterpieces. On panel and ceiling and vault- 
ed chancel the Virgin and her Child are still pointed 
out. The Christ-Child is thrown into the background ; 
the mother is made conspicuous and surpassingly beauti- 
ful. So by progressive steps she came to be looked on as 
a co-redeemer with Christ. Then from Rome was sent 
forth an invitation, not yet called a mandate, that all 
should kiss the hand before the Queen of Heaven. This 
was in the black night before the Reformation. It was in 
1 5 17 that Luther nailed his theses to the door of the town 
hall at Wittenberg and made his protest against the wor- 
ship of any but the living God. All hail the protest ! 

For a while Mary-worship was repressed, but only to 
revive again in recent years as a formal dogma or pronun- 
ciamento of the Catholic Church. At this hour there are 
multitudes all over the world bowing at the shrine of this 
woman of Nazareth and crying, " Holy Mary, mother of 
God, pray for us !" If she herself could appear in the 
midst of these devotees, of a certainty she would cry out, 
as the angel did in the vision of St. John, " See thou do 
it not; for I am thy fellow-servant. Worship God!" 

"Say of me as the Heavenly said, ' Thou art 
The blessedest of women ' — biessedest, 
Not holiest nor noblest — no high name 
Whose height misplaced may pierce me like a shame 
When I sit meek in heaven." 

In the gospel story she is represented as keeping her- 
self for the most part in modest retirement. Not once do 
we find her laying claim to superhuman dignity or to any 
exemption from the ills that common flesh is heir to. 

Our Lord indeed, as if with prophetic reference to the 
apotheosis of his mother, gave warning against it by im- 



THE MOTHER OF JESUS. 113 

plication once and again, as when he rebuked her at the 
marriage in Cana for unbecoming pride and assumption of 
authority. So at another time, when a certain woman in 
the multitude cried out, " Blessed is the womb that bare 
thee !" he would not allow even those impulsive words to 
go unchallenged, but said, " Nay rather, blessed are they 
that keep the word of God !" She was a sinner in need 
of a Saviour. And her chiefest honor was not that she 
bare Christ but that she loved him. 

III. But while the Virgin Mother is stripped of these 
false honors which she herself would be the first to repu- 
diate, she still challenges our highest admiration. Why 
should we hesitate to speak of her as " blessed Mary" 
or " the blessed Virgin," when the angel thus addressed 
her? It is no slight honor that her name should be 
found in the most venerable of our creeds and mingled 
with the soul's confession of a Saviour : " I believe in 
Jesus Christ, who was born of the Virgin Mary." If we 
decline to worship, we do not therefore disesteem her. 
The most beautiful traits of womanhood are associated 
with her character. We revere her as an ideal of femi- 
nine purity and devotion. When Gabriel told her that 
she was to be overshadowed by the Holy Ghost and 
bring forth a Son, she knew that her fair name was in 
danger, that the world would point its finger at her. She 
knew that she must wear the scarlet letter on her breast. 
But she bowed her head without a murmur, saying, 
" Behold the servant of the Lord." There was hero- 
ism ! It would doubtless have been easier to die; yet 
her faithful heart asked no question, interposed no argu- 
ment, but " set itself at once to quiet expectation." Bishop 
Hall says, " There is no more noble proof of faith than 
thus to captivate all our powers unto God and, without 



114 "THE MORNING COMETH." 

sciscitation, go blindfold whither He will." It was enough 
for her that God required it : " Be it unto me according 
to thy word !" 

We must also remark upon the simplicity and tender- 
ness of her affection towards Christ. Of many pious 
women it is written that "they loved much:" Mary of 
Bethany whom we always think of as sitting at Jesus' 
feet; Mary of Magdala who anointed him with oil of 
spikenard very precious; and others who followed Him 
and loved Him through evil and good report. Ah, yes ; 
many daughters have done virtuously, but thou, Mary of 
Nazareth, excelledst them all ! Bending over her divine 
Child in the manger, seeking him with tears in the streets 
of Jerusalem, waiting on Him as a handmaid in the tasks 
and journeys and sufferings of his ministry, not once 
losing faith in his power and Messiahship though she 
saw him begrimed with the dust of the workshop and 
stained with the blood of Golgotha ; resignedly baring 
her own breast to the sword of anguish when his supreme 
hour came — was ever greater devotion than hers, a 
purer love or deeper reverence for Christ ? 

IV. The meaning of her name was " bitterness ;" but 
as Marah was sweetened by the tree cast into its waters, 
so Mary was ennobled and sanctified by her strange ma- 
ternity. 

" O wondrous mother, was there ever joy like thine ; 
To thee it came, that message from the Highest, 
Such as to woman ne'er before descended ! 
The Almighty's shadowing wings thy soul o'erspread, 
And with thy life the life of worlds was blended." 

It is not to be wondered at that the angel hailed her 
as one " highly favored !" or that Elizabeth was moved to 
call her "blessed among women," or that she herself 



THE MOTHER OF JESUS. 115 

broke forth into singing, " My soul doth magnify the 
Lord ; for He hath regarded the low estate of His hand- 
maid !" What an honor was this— to be the mother of 
the Desire of all Nations — to be the mother of Jesus the 
Christ ! 

But an honor higher than this is conferred by grace on 
every true believer. On one occasion it was reported to 
Jesus that his mother and brethren stood without, desiring 
to speak with him. "But he answered and said, Who is 
my mother ? and who are my brethren ? And he stretched 
forth his hand towards his disciples, saying, Behold my 
mother and my brethren ! For whosoever shall do the 
will of my Father which is in heaven, the same is my 
brother and sister and mother." 

We then, beloved, are elect to a spiritual oneness 
with Jesus which is more precious than the nearest kin- 
ship of flesh. The ties of nature are but as green withes 
in the titanic hands of adversity or death ; but what shall 
separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus 
our Lord? We are one with him — " one" is the word — 
if we have entered into the fellowship of his toil and suf- 
fering and death. We think too lightly of this mystical 
union. We neither fully apprehend nor take advantage 
of it. The King hath brought us into his chambers ; how 
fair and how pleasant art thou, O love, for delights ! The 
tie by which Mary was united to her Son is not compar- 
able to this espousal of the believing soul with Him. 

Let us remember the words of our Lord Jesus when he 
lifted up his eyes to heaven and said, " Father, I pray for 
these, that they all may be one ; as thou art in me and I 
in thee, that they also may be one in us : that the love 
wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them, and I in 
them." " I in them !"— O friends, what manner of love is 



Il6 "THE MORNING* COMETH." 

this ! Blessed indeed among women was Mary, mother 
of Jesus ; but still more highly favored is every believer 
who has realized this fellowship with Him, who can echo 
the words of Bengel to his bride : 

" Jesus in heaven, 
Jesus in the heart, 
The heart in heaven, 
Heaven in the heart!" 



A NEW YEAR'S MEDITATION. \\J 

COME IN, THOU BLESSED OF THE LORD. 

A HEW YEAR'S MEDITATION. 



" Come in, thou blessed of the Lord !" Gen. 24 : 31. 

At the doorway of Bethuel's house in Mesopotamia 
stands a wayfarer, weary and dust-stained. He is the 
servant of an Oriental prince. He asks entertainment for 
himself and his train. At a little distance his camels are 
kneeling under their burden of packs and bundles. The 
daughter of the house has just summoned her brother 
Laban, who seems in doubt until his glance falls upon 
the rich gifts which she has received from the stranger — 
ear-rings and bracelets, gratuities which w r ere extraordi- 
nary even in those generous days. He infers therefrom 
that the new-comer represents a master of no mean im- 
portance. So right cheerily he says, " Come in, thou 
blessed of the Lord! Wherefore standest thou without ?" 

This was an eventful day for Bethuel's house. Much 
depended upon the entertainment accorded to that 
stranger. Out of his visit came an alliance with the 
princely lineage of Abraham. The name of Bethuel 
was thenceforth to take its place in the history of the 
ages. 

So stands the New Year at our threshold, laden with 
treasures, new gifts of heaven, hopes, aspirations, golden 
purposes, rings and bracelets for the adornment of per- 
sonal character. We stand expectant while he unties his 
pack ; he has great things in store for us. Welcome, O 



Il8 "THE MORNING COMETH." 

New Year, bearer of glad tidings, ambassador of peace, 
herald of the Great King ! Come in, thou blessed of the 
Lord ! 

The air is resonant with good wishes. "A happy New 
Year !" It is the children's greeting. Lips tremulous with 
age utter it. Sick-rooms are cheered by it. Pains are 
forgotten while dear ones whisper, "A happy New Year !" 
The world is brighter for it. 

Bat what does this mean? What is happiness? 
Varro made a catalogue of two hundred and eighty defi- 
nitions of it. The three leading philosophical schools in 
Greece were represented by Plato, Epicurus, and Zeno ; 
of whom the first said, " Happiness is to live reflectively ;" 
the second, " Happiness is to live cheerily : let us eat, 
drink, and be merry, for to-morrow we die;" and the 
third, " Happiness is to live with fortitude, to accept 
whatever comes with a brave heart, for whatever is to be, 
will be." 

In each of these is a modicum of truth. Plato was 
right in saying that the happy man lives thoughtfully. 
Face the great problems : if there is a God, believe it ; if 
death ends all, assure yourself of that; if the Bible is true, 
it is the business of every serious man to be confident of 
it; if Jesus Christ is the only Saviour, no man is just to 
himself who has not accepted him. 

Epicurus was right in saying that the happy man lives 
cheerily. We are in a pleasant world with a good God 
over all. Rejoice, therefore, and again I say rejoice. De- 
light thyself in the ways of thine heart and in the sight 
of thine eyes, but know thou that for all these things God 
will call thee into judgment, i. e., in the midst of thy 
pleasure be mindful that thou livest for ever and make 
merry as becometh a child of God. 



A NEW YEAR'S MEDITATION. 119 

Zeno was right in saying the happy man lives with 
fortitude. He is superior to his environment— not indif- 
ferent, but superior to it. Why not ? If he loves God 
all things are working together for his good. If he be 
cast into a furnace of affliction heated seven times hotter 
than ever before, he can endure it because he knows that 
it is working a far more exceeding and eternal weight of 
glory, and because in the midst of the flame there walks 
with him One like unto the Son of God. 

The three prerequisites of happiness are found in an 
inscription on the keystone of an ancient castle. Who 
was lord of the castle no one knows. 
" His sword is rust, 
His good steed dust, 
His soul is with his God, we trust.' ' 

Here is the device : a hand reached upward, as in suppli- 
cation, and over it the legend " WILL, GOD, I CAN." 
In that old Saxon legend, if it be rightly understood, lies 
the secret of happiness. 

I. Will. The beginning of all is choice. Without 
that a man is always a mere creature of circumstance. 

One windy day a kite, flying aloft, struggled to be 
loosed from the invisible cord that held it. A fleck of 
cloud floated by and said, " Come with me ; the skies are 
clear and this is a merry life." The kite, struggling vainly 
to be free, cried, " I cannot; I am held." A ball of thistle- 
down whispered as it was carried past, " Come with me; 
this is delight." The kite replied, " I cannot ; I am held." 
A wisp of paper went whirling by. " Oh this is a joyous 
life; come with me." "I cannot," replied the kite; "I 
am held." We, beloved, are in the midst of currents and 
counter-currents, in perpetual danger of being carried 
hither and yon by capricious winds. Oh blessed is the 



120 "THE MORNING COMETH. 

soul that is held ! — held to something, held by a ruling 
purpose. Blessed is the man who goes not with the 
multitude, but holds his place while it goes surging 
by. 

Have you a ruling purpose ? Is your eye single for 
anything? The double-minded man is unstable in all his 
ways. Albert Bushnell was fond of saying, " Grasp the 
handle of your being." Ay, that way lies success. Grasp 
it as a man grasps the tiller of a boat. Hold it with a 
calm, strong hand. Hold steady and all is well. 

II. God. Alas for the man that leaves God out of his 
reckoning, for the chief end of man is to glorify Him. 

It is necessary not only that we should choose, but 
that we should choose the highest and best. 

(i.) A man may set out to live for himself, to live for 
self-culture, for the building up of character. So far as it 
goes this is well. 

(2.) A man may live for the good of those around 
him. And this is better still. Sydney Smith said, " Life 
is in two heaps, the one of joy, the other of sorrow. If I 
can on any day take a little from the heap of sorrow and 
add it to the heap of joy, I reckon that a well-spent day." 
It is indeed a blessed thing to serve the common weal, to 
make the lives of those around us a little brighter and 
sweeter. 

(3.) But the highest level of life is that whereon we 
seek the divine glory ; for the ultimate of everything is 
God. It was said among the ancients, to every one was 
given a choice of three urns. One was a golden urn full 
of blood, and in it was the single word " Empire." The 
second was of amber ; it was full of ashes, and in it was the 
word " Glory." The third was an urn of clay, and empty, 
but in the bottom was written " God." The last was the 



A NEW YEARS MEDITATION. 121 

best of all, for, as they were wont to say, one letter of that 
name outweighs the world. 

And true happiness is impossible to the soul that is 
without God. If we set out to lean upon ourselves we 
shall find our strength a broken reed that will pierce 
through the hand. If in time of trouble we seek comfort 
from within, it will be as when a foolish man seeks to hide 
in his own shadow. David tried it and failed. Over and 
over again he failed. Then he cried, " I will look unto the 
hills from whence cometh my help !" Nor did God ever 
fail him. Sometimes he was sorrowful, but never in de- 
spair. " Why art thou cast down, oh my soul, and why 
art thou disquieted within me ? Hope thou in God, for I 
shall yet praise him, who is the health of my countenance 
and my God." 

III. I can. This means resolution. 

Resolution is more than choice. Choice is a voli- 
tional act, but resolution is a persistent force. In the 
equipment of a soldier it is represented by sandals. " Put 
ye on," says the apostle, "the whole armor of God," to 
wit, the girdle of truth, the breastplate of righteousness, 
the shield of faith, wherewith we shall be able to quench 
all the fiery darts of the adversary ; and take the Sword 
of the Spirit, which is the Word of God. Is that all ? Oh 
no. See to it that ye have your feet shod with the prep- 
aration of the gospel of peace. In those times battles 
were fought not with heavy artillery from distant hilltops, 
nor by sharp-shooters from rifle-pits, but with short 
swords, face to face and eye to eye. Much depended then 
upon a man's footing. The spiked sandals were of the 
utmost importance. Put on the sandals, therefore, O 
follower of Christ, who in the coming year must confront 
the adversary ten thousand times. Put on the sandals 



122 "THE MORNING COMETH," 

of resolution, that you may be able to withstand in the evil 
day, and having- done all, to stand. 

Still further, resolution is more than resolutions. The 
latter are fragmentary volitions. On New Year's Eve a 
multitude are wont to turn over a new leaf, and, alas, the 
new leaf is pretty sure to be like the old one, blotted and 
stained with short-comings. But resolution is one per- 
sistent energy that covers the twelvemonth. And this 
indeed we must have, for there is no discharge in this war. 

" Ne'er think the victory won, 
Nor lay thine armor down ; 
Thine arduous work will not be done 
Till thou obtain thy crown." 

A little while ago we were watching for the comet. 
Astronomers were questioning whether it was a fragment 
of Biela's or an independent body on an eccentric orbit of 
its own. Though the stars were shining all the while 
no one heeded them. But while we were watching and 
questioning, lo, the comet was gone — gone, no one knew 
whither. Then in the blue heavens the stars still shone 
on. There are cometary resolves that last for a moment; 
there are stellar purposes that endure for ever. It is not 
a thousand choices, but one resolution made in depend- 
ence upon divine strength, that wins. That was a wise 
thing that Dr. Johnson said in his old age : " I have 
been resolving these fifty-five years ; now I take hold on 
God." 

I think there must have been an extraordinary charm 
in Jesus' face, some magnetism in the glance of his eye — 
else why was it that when he passed through the gate and 
said to the publican, "Arise, and follow me," he was in- 
stantly obeyed ? And when he walked along the seashore 
and said to the fishermen, " Come, follow me," they left 



A NEW YEAR'S MEDITATION. 1 23 

their nets and became his disciples ? Oh that he might 
pass this way and lift upon us the light of his countenance 
and draw us with the glance of his eye ! 

To some he has been speaking, lo these many years. 
You have seen his face, but you have not heeded him. 
Now at the opening of this New Year he speaks again, 
" Arise, and follow me." The beginning of the spiritual 
life is in the exercise of the will. All depends upon that 
" I will." But, alas, we wrong our wills again and again 
until they are as helpless as a fakir's hand. Time was 
when that hand lay white and chubby on a mother's 
breast. Time was when it was strong and supple. But 
the devotee has held it so long in one strained position 
that the nails have grown into the palm, the flesh has 
shrunken, the muscles are tense as whip-cords, the veins 
are dried up, and the whole hand is as helpless as a mum- 
my's hand. So is it with your wills. I say, " Love 
God." You answer, " I cannot." I say, " Believe in the 
Lord Jesus Christ." You say, " I cannot." It is indeed 
a desperate case. There is blessed encouragement, how- 
ever, in the fact that when God commands he gives the 
power to obey. Work out your own salvation, for it is 
God that worketh in you. The Christ who says, " Arise, 
and follow me," will give you power this moment to obey 
him. But whether that will ever be true again, who shall 
say? 

The battle of Waterloo was fought in a twenty-acre 
field. " Now " is a little word of only three letters, but 
your destiny is in it. 

The old year is behind us. To look over our shoul- 
ders is to grow sad, but blessed be God, we can forget. 
One of God's chiefest gifts is oblivion for our sins. He 
will remember them no more against us. Nor need 



124 "THE MORNING COMETH. 

we ourselves remember them. The Japanese have a 
proverb : 

u My sleeve with tears is always wet, 
I have forgotten to forget.' ' 

But here is our word touching the past : " Forgetting 
those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto 
those things which are before, I press towards the mark 
for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus." 

The New Year is before us. We stand, as Abraham 
stood upon the banks of the Euphrates, looking off 
towards an unknown country. Our strength at this 
moment is in the living God. " Oh carry us not up hence 
except thou go with us !" If He be Guide and Counsellor, 
all will be well. Let us set forth bravely as Sir Walter 
Raleigh did when he sang : 

" Give me my scallop-shell of quiet, 
My staff of faith to lean upon ; 
My scrip of joy, immortal diet ; 
My bottle of salvation ; 
My gown of glory, hope's true gauge; 
And thus I take my pilgrimage.' ' 

Let us lay aside every weight and the sin which doth so 
easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that 
is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher 
of our faith. 

Up with your heart, O believer — sursum corda ! and 
up with your hand— WILL, GOD, and I CAN. 

Without Him I can do nothing ; I can do all things 
through Christ which strengtheneth me. 



THE TESTIMONY OF INFIDELS. 1 25 

THE TESTIMONY OF INFIDELS 

TO THE 

TRUTH OF CHRISTIANITY. 



" For their rock is not as our Rock, even our enemies them- 
selves being judges." Deut. 32:31. 

It is the business of the ministry to commend the 
religion of Christ. People want to know whether the 
system of doctrine and ethics set forth in the Scriptures 
is true or not. We profess to believe that it is. It is 
our business to prove it. This is our case. If we turn 
aside to other considerations they are mere diversions. 
There are various ways of approaching the matter in 
hand. 

First. We may use the a priori method ; that is, 
we may take an antecedent probability and proceed to 
verify it. If there is a God he would probably reveal 
himself in a Book and in a Life. The Bible meets the 
requirements of the Book and Jesus Christ is the Life. 

Second. The a posteriori method ; that is, reasoning 
from facts to conclusions. For there are certain facts 
known and visible to all men for which it is impossible to 
account otherwise than by attributing a supernatural 
power to the religion which centres in the Cross. 

Third. Our case may be substantiated by external 
evidence. If we open history we discover that the genius 
of Christianity has come down through the ages like the 



126 "THE MORNING COMETH." 

Angel of the Morning, illuminating on every side the 
abodes of such as dwell in darkness and the shadow of 
death. If we open our geography it is equally apparent 
that the lands of Christendom are the sunlit portions of 
the earth. In these, and these only, the wildernesses re- 
joice and blossom like the rose. 

Fourth. Internal evidence or personal experience. 
There is no escaping the power of this kind of proof. 
" I know not," said the blind man, " as to the nature or 
character of this Jesus, but I do know that whereas I was 
blind, now I see." An innumerable company of people 
is prepared to testify as to the power of the religion of 
Jesus to help in time of trouble, to deliver from sin, to 
comfort and sustain in every hour that trieth the soul of 
a man. 

Fifth. In demonstrating the truth of Christianity we 
may use the testimony of its friends. An army of such 
witnesses is ever marching past. Here are kings and 
potentates from Constantine to Queen Victoria. Here 
are scholars innumerable, the Bacons and Newtons of 
many centuries. Here are philanthropists like Howard 
and Wilberforce glad to acknowledge that in their benefi- 
cent work they were merely following out the precepts of 
Scripture and treading in the footsteps of that Gracious 
One whose life was told briefly in the saying, " He went 
about doing good." 

Sixth. There is still another view-point, however, to 
wit, the testimony of the enemy. The ancients believed 
that it w r as wise to learn ab hoste, that is, from the wea- 
pons of the adversary. 

" There 's wit there ye '11 get there 
Ye'll find nae ither-where." 

On the way down to Timnath a lion sprang out upon 



THE TESTIMONY OF INFIDELS. 12? 

the strong man, and he rent its jaws asunder as if it had 
been a kid. Not long after, going that way, he found the 
carcass. A swarm of bees was housed within it. From 
this incident came the riddle: " Out of the eater came 
forth meat, and out of the strong came forth sweetness. " 
All along the thoroughfares of history and experience the 
enemy has lain in wait for the unarmed and heedless. But 
infidelity has ever been worsted, and to-day we pluck 
honey from between the lion's ribs. 

It is our present purpose to pursue a brief argument 
from the concessions made by infidels and unbelievers as 
to the divineness of Jesus and the power of the religion 
which has its living centre in Him. 

Let us begin at the beginning. 

I. Our first witnesses shall be a group of three who 
were able to testify from more or less intimate acquaint- 
ance with the living Christ. 

(i.) Pilate. It was he who sentenced Jesus to death. 
Yet at the supreme moment he took water and washed 
his hands before the multitude, saying, " I am innocent of 
the blood of this just person. " The word rendered just 
perso7i is dikaios y the same used by Plato in character- 
izing the ideal man. 

(2.) The Centurion who had charge of the crucifixion 
of Jesus. He was a tried and trusty soldier, accustomed 
to scenes of blood, but he was profoundly impressed with 
the demeanor of Jesus in his agony on the cross. " Cer- 
tainly," he said, " this was a righteous man !"* Here he 
was a Unitarian. As time passed, observing His humility, 
His divine patience, His forgiving grace, he cried, lifted 
up above his Unitarianism, " Truly this was the Son of 
God !" He knew the hopes of Israel respecting the 
* Dikaios. Plato's word again, 



128 "THE MORNING COMETH." 

coming of Messiah, one of whose distinctive titles was 
" the Son of God," and he was persuaded that those 
hopes were realized in this Jesus whom they had sen- 
tenced to the accursed tree. 

(3.) Judas. On the morning of the crucifixion he 
entered the hall Gazith, the meeting-place of the Sanhe- 
drin, and threw upon the floor the silver coins that were 
the price of his treachery. It was but last night that he 
coolly bargained away his Lord ; now remorse has seized 
upon him. The ring of those red-stained pieces of silver 
has come down through the ages with the cry of the 
traitor, " I have betrayed innocent blood !" 

II. We now come to the post-apostolic period and 
summon a coterie of stalwart enemies of Christ. 

(4.) Josephus, the Jewish historian, who wrote in the 
first century of the Christian era. In his " Antiquities "* 
he says, u About this time lived Jesus, a wise man — if it be 
proper to call him a man, for he was a doer of wonderful 
works. He was a teacher of such men as receive the 
truth. He was called the Christ. And when Pilate, at the 
instigation of our principal men, had condemned him to 
the cross, those who had loved him did not forsake him. 
And he appeared to them alive again on the third day, 
the prophets of old having foretold these and many other 
wonderful things concerning him. And the sect of Chris- 
tians, so named after him, is not extinct unto this day." 

(5.) Celsus, a Greek philosopher of the second cen- 
tury, who wrote vigorously against the sect of Galileans. 
He quotes liberally from the New Testament and con- 
cedes the genuineness of the miracles of Christ, while 

* The question of the authenticity of this passage is discussed at 
length in the Appendix of Schaft's " Person of Christ," to which credit 
is due for most of the extracts used in this discourse. 



THE TESTIMONY OF INFIDELS. 1 29 

attributing them to the influence of evil spirits. It is 
noteworthy at this point that the fact that miracles were 
wrought by Jesus was not called in question in those early 
days. It was admitted, but accounted for generally on the 
ground that he was a sorcerer, or, as in the Talmud, that 
he was a master of the magical arts of Egypt. In any 
case it was conceded that he wrought many wonderful 
works. 

(6.) Porphyry of the second century, a Neo-platonist, 
who wrote fifteen volumes against Christianity. He says, 
in speaking of the oracles, " The goddess Hecate hath 
declared Jesus to be a most pious man, his soul, like the 
souls of other pious men, favored with immortality after 
death. The Christians do mistakenly worship him. And 
when we asked at the oracle, ' Why then was he con- 
demned?' she answered, 'The body is liable to suffer- 
ing, but the soul of the pious dwells in heavenly mansions.' 
He hath indeed been the occasion of error in leading 
others away from the acknowledgment of the immortal 
Jove ; but, being himself pious, he is gone to the dwelling 
of the gods." 

(7.) Julian, the Apostate, emperor of the fourth cen- 
tury. He was a bitter enemy of Christianity. He tried 
to restore the pagan worship. He rebuilt the temples and 
went in person to sacrifices. But the multitude had lost 
confidence in the old superstitions. His failure to revive 
the dying spark of paganism filled him with anger and 
bitterness. He vented his spleen in satire against Christ 
and his followers. The story of his death is familiar. In 
a campaign against the Persians he fell, pierced with a 
spear. Clutching the dust in his last agony, he cried, 
" Galilean, thou hast conquered !" He says, " Jesus, hav- 
ing persuaded a few of the baser sort of Galileans to attach 

9 



130 "THE MORNING COMETH. 

themselves to him, has now been celebrated about three 
hundred years. He did nothing in his lifetime worthy of 
fame, unless it be counted a great work to heal lame and 
blind people and exorcise demoniacs. ,, A splendid trib- 
ute, this, to the beneficent work of Jesus ! For is it not a 
great thing to heal lame and blind people and cast out 
evil spirits ? Is it not a vastly greater thing than to rule 
an empire as Julian did ? 

III. We leap a thousand years and come to another 
group of unbelievers. We are now in the midst of influ- 
ences which are ultimately to provoke a social and politi- 
cal upheaval throughout the civilized earth. 

(8.) Spinoza. He is referred to as the father of mod- 
ern pantheism. He did not believe in the personality of 
God, but regarded him as an all-pervading something 
with the attributes of extension and thought. As to this 
God, however, he says that " Jesus Christ was his temple. 
In him God has most fully revealed himself." This is 
a faint echo of that which is written, " In the beginning 
was the Word, and the Word was with God and the 
Word was God. And the Word was made flesh and 
dwelt among us." 

(9.) Thomas Chubb, a leader of the modern deists. He 
was a tallow-chandler in his early life and his sympathies 
were with the common people. Though he rejected the 
divineness of the gospel, yet he was pleased to compli- 
ment it as a religion for the poor. He says, " In Christ 
we have an example of a quiet and peaceable spirit, of a 
becoming modesty and sobriety — just, honest, upright, 
sincere, and above all of a most gracious and benevolent 
temper and behavior — one who did no wrong, no injury 
to any man, in whose mouth was no guile; who went 
about doing good, not only by his ministry, but also in 



THE TESTIMONY OF INFIDELS. 131 

curing all manner of diseases among the people. His 
life was a beautiful picture of human nature in its own 
purity and simplicity, and showed at once what excellent 
creatures men might be under the influence of his gos- 
pel." 

IV. And now we present three malignant spirits, than 
whom no others in history have probably exercised a more 
disastrous influence on human thought, the master-spirits 
of the period of the French Revolution. 

(10.) Diderot, father of the Encyclopedic which was 
the dragon's egg of the Reign of Terror. In a conversa- 
tion with the Baron de Holbach he is represented as say- 
ing, " For a wonder, gentlemen, I know nobody, either in 
France or elsewhere, who could write as these Scriptures 
are written. This is a Satan of a book. I defy any one 
to prepare a tale so simple, so sublime and touching, as 
that of the passion of Jesus Christ. ,, 

(11.) Jean Jacques Rousseau, brilliant, erratic, incon- 
sistent. Here is a remarkable saying of his : " I will con- 
fess to you that the majesty of the Scriptures strikes me 
with admiration, as the purity of the gospel has its influ- 
ence on my heart. Peruse the works of our philosophers, 
with all their pomp of diction — how mean, how contempti- 
ble are they compared with the Scriptures ! Is it possi- 
ble that a book so simple and at once so sublime should 
be merely the work of man ? Is it possible that the sacred 
personage whose history it contains should be himself a 
mere man ? Do we find that he assumed the tone of an 
enthusiast or ambitious sectary ? What sweetness, what 
purity in his manner! What an affecting gracefulness in 
his instructions ! What sublimity in his maxims ! What 
profound wisdom in his discourses ! What presence of 
mind, what subtlety, what fitness in his replies ! How 



132 "THE MORNING COMETH/' 

great the command over his passions ! Where is the 
man, where the philosopher, who could so live and so die 
without weakness and without ostentation ? When Plato 
describes his imaginary just man, loaded with all the 
punishments of guilt, yet meriting the highest rewards of 
virtue, he describes exactly the character of Jesus Christ, 
and the resemblance is so striking that all the Church 
Fathers perceived it. . . What prepossession, what blind- 
ness, must it be to compare the son of Sophroniscus to 
the son of Mary ! What an infinite disproportion be- 
tween them ! The Spartans were a sober people before 
Socrates recommended sobriety. Before he had even 
defined virtue his country abounded in virtuous men. 
But where could Jesus learn among his contemporaries 
that pure and sublime morality of which he only has 
given us both precept and example ? The greatest wis- 
dom was made known among the most bigoted fanati- 
cism ; and the simplicity of the most heroic virtues did 
honor to the vilest people on the earth. The death of 
Socrates, peacefully philosophizing among his friends, ap- 
pears the most agreeable that one could wish : while that 
of Jesus, expiring in agonies, abused, insulted, and ac- 
cused by a whole nation, is the most horrible that one 
could fear. Socrates, indeed, in receiving the cup of 
poison, blessed the weeping executioner who adminis- 
tered it : but Jesus, amid excruciating tortures, prayed 
for his merciless tormentors. Yes, verily, if the life and 
death of Socrates were those of a sage, the life and death 
of Jesus were those of a God." 

(12.) Voltaire. No man ever lived who wrote more 
viciously or bitterly of the Christian religion than he ; yet 
hear this letter, the last he ever wrote, expressed in an 
honest hour and worthy of consideration as the utterance 



THE TESTIMONY OF INFIDELS. '1 33 

of a dying man : " I, the underwritten, do declare that for 
these four days past, having been afflicted with vomiting 
of blood — at the age of eighty-four — and not being able to 
drag myself to church, the reverend Rector of Sulpice 
having been pleased to add to his many favors that oi 
sending me the Abbe Gautier, I did confess to him, and if 
it please God to dispose of me, I would die in the Church 
in which I was born. Hoping that the divine mercy will 
pardon my faults, I sign myself in the presence of Abbe 
Mignot, my nephew, and Marquis de Villeville, my friend, 
Voltaire. March 2, 1778." 

V. We here introduce a witness who stands alone, 
the most colossal figure in history. 

(13.) Napoleon. If not an unbeliever in the radical 
sense, he was certainly a fatalist. His star of destiny was 
his only Providence. In his Egyptian campaign he car- 
ried a Bible and Koran together, labelled " Politics." His 
soul was absorbed in personal ambition. He died mur- 
muring, " France, Josephine, Head of the Army !" On 
one occasion, during his exile, Gen. Bertrand said to him, 
" I cannot conceive, sire, how a great man like you could 
believe that a Supreme Being could exhibit himself to 
man in human guise." Napoleon answered, " I know 
men ; and I tell you that Jesus Christ was not a man. Su- 
perficial minds see a resemblance between Christ and the 
founders of empires and the gods of other religions. 
That resemblance does not exist. There is between 
Christianity and whatever other religions the distance of 
infinity. We can say to the authors of every other reli- 
gion, ' You are neither gods, nor the agents of the Deity. 
You are but missionaries of falsehood, moulded from the 
same clay with the rest of mortals. You are made with all 
the passions and vices inseparable from them. Your 



134 "THE MORNING COMETH." 

temples and your priests proclaim your origin. ' Such 
will be the judgment, the cry of conscience, of whoever 
examines the gods and the temples of paganism. . . 
It is not so with Christ. Everything in him astonishes 
me. His spirit overawes me and his will confounds me. 
Between him and whoever else in the world there is no 
possible term of comparison. He is truly a being by 
himself. His ideas and his sentiments, the truth which he 
announces, and his manner of convincing, are not ex- 
plained either by human organization or by the nature of 
things. His birth and the history of bis life; the pro- 
fundity of his doctrine, which grapples the mightiest diffi- 
culties, and which is of those difficulties the most admira- 
ble solution ; his gospel, his apparition, his empire, his 
march across the ages and the realms — everything is for 
me a prodigy, a mystery insoluble, which plunges me 
into reveries which I cannot escape ; a mystery which is 
there before my eyes, a mystery which I can neither deny 

nor explain. Here I see nothing human And 

what a mysterious symbol, the instrument of the punish- 
ment of the Man-God ! His disciples were armed with it. 
* The Christ/ they said, ' God, has died for the salvation of 
men.' What a strife, what a tempest, these simple words 
have raised around the humble standard of the punish- 
ment of the Man-God ! On the one side we see rage and 
all the furies of hatred and violence : on the other there 
are gentleness, moral courage, infinite resignation. For 
three hundred years spirit struggled against the brutality 
of sense, conscience against despotism, the soul against 
the body, virtue against all the vices. The blood of Chris- 
tians flowed in torrents. They died kissing the hand 
which slew them. The soul alone protested, while the 
body surrendered itself to all tortures. Everywhere 



THE TESTIMONY OF INFIDELS. 1 35 

Christians fell, and everywhere they triumphed. You 
speak of Caesar, of Alexander, of their conquests, and of 
the enthusiasm which they enkindled in the hearts of their 
soldiers ; but can you conceive of a dead man making 
conquests, w T ith an army faithful and entirely devoted to 
his memory ? . . . Now that I am at St. Helena, now that 
I am alone, chained upon this rock, who fights and wins 
empires for me ? who are the courtiers of my misery and 
misfortunes ? who thinks of me ? who makes effort for 
me in Europe ? Where are my friends ? . . . Such is 
the fate of great men. So it was with Caesar and Alex- 
ander. And I, too, am forgotten; and the name of a con- 
queror and an emperor is a college theme. Our exploits 
are tasks given to pupils by their tutors, who sit in judg- 
ment upon us, awarding censure or praise. And mark 
what is soon to become of me : assassinated by the Eng- 
lish oligarchy, I die before my time ; and my dead body, 
too, must return to the earth, to become food for worms. 
Behold the destiny of him whom the world called the 
great Napoleon ! What an abyss between m)' deep misery 
and the eternal reign of Christ, which is proclaimed, loved, 
adored, and which is extending over all the earth ! Is 
this to die? is it not rather to live? The death of 
Christ — it is the death of God." 

VI. We summon now two witnesses from among the 
poets, both of whom, gifted with extraordinary genius, re- 
jected the gospel of Christ. 

(14.) Goethe. He said, " I consider the Gospels to be 
thoroughly genuine, for in them is the effective reflection 
of the sublimity which emanates from Jesus, and this is as 
divine as ever the divine appeared on earth." 

(15.) Jean Paul Richter, worshipper of the beautiful. 
" Jesus of Nazareth is the purest among the mighty, the 



136 "THE MORNING COMETH." 

mightiest among the pure, who with his pierced hand has 
raised empires from their foundations, turned the stream 
of history from its old channel, and still continues to rule 
and guide the ages." 

VII. The two who are now to appear and bear testi- 
mony are representative leaders of the right and left wings 
of modern Unitarianism. 

(16.) Dr. Channing, leader of the conservatives, says, 
" I maintain that this is a character wholly remote from 
human conception. To imagine it to be the production 
of imposture or enthusiasm shows a strange unsoundness 
of mind. I contemplate it with a veneration second only 
to the profound awe with which I look upward to God. It 
bears no mark of human invention. It belongs to and 
manifested the beloved Son of God. I feel as if I could 
not be deceived. The Gospels must be true. They were 
drawn from a living original. The character of Jesus is 
not a fiction. He was what he claimed to be and what 
his followers attested. Nor is this all. Jesus not only 
was, he is still, the Son of God, the Saviour of the world. 
He has entered the heaven to which he always looked 
forward on earth. There he lives and reigns. With a 
clear, calm faith I see him in that state of glory, and I 
confidently expect, at no distant period, to see him face to 
face. We have indeed no absent friend whom we shall so 
surely see. Let us then, by imitation of his virtues and 
obedience to his word, prepare ourselves to join him in 
those pure mansions where he is surrounding himself with 
the good and the pure, and will communicate to them for 
ever his own spirit and power and joy." 

(17.) Theodore Parker, leader of the radicals, says, 
" Jesus combines in himself the sublimest precepts and 
divinest practices, thus more than realizing the dream of 



THE TESTIMONY OF INFIDELS. 1 37 

prophets and sages. He puts away the doctors of the 
law, subtle, learned, irrefragable, and pours out a doctrine 
beautiful as the light, sublime as heaven, and true as God. 
The philosophers, the poets, the prophets, the rabbis — he 
rises above them all. That mightiest heart that ever beat, 
stirred by the Spirit of God, how it wrought in his bosom ! 
What words of rebuke, of comfort, counsel, admonition, 
promise, hope, did he pour out ! words that stir the soul 
as summer dews call up the faint and sickly grass. What 
profound instruction in his proverbs and discourses ! 
What wisdom in his homely sayings, so rich with Jewish 
life ! What deep divinity of soul in his prayers, his ac- 
tion, sympathy, resignation ! Eighteen centuries have 
passed since the tide of humanity rose so high. What 
man, what sect, what church, has mastered his thought, 
comprehended his method, and so fully applied it to life ? 
Let the world answer in its cry of anguish. Measure him 
by the shadow he has cast into the world — no, by the light 
he has shed upon it. Shall we be told that such a man 
never lived? Suppose that Newton never lived. But 
who did his works ? and thought his thoughts ? It takes 
a Newton to forge a Newton. What man could have 
fabricated a Jesus? None but Jesus" 

VIII. The two witnesses who remain have been fore- 
most leaders of modern unbelief. 

(18.) David Strauss, the author of the mythical theory 
of the story of Jesus — perhaps the most conspicuous fig- 
ure in recent German thought. A few years ago he was 
buried without a prayer or word of Christian song. He 
says, " If in Jesus the union of self-consciousness with the 
consciousness of God has been real, and expressed not 
only in words but actually revealed in all the conditions 
of his life, he represents within the religious sphere the 



138 "THE MORNING COMETH." 

highest pointy beyond which humanity cannot go — yea, 
whom it cannot equal, inasmuch as every one who here- 
after should climb to the same height could only do so 
with the help of Jesus who first attained it. He remains 
the highest model of religion withi?i our thought, and ?io 
perfect piety is possible withojit his presence in the heart" 

(19.) Ernest Renan, author of the legendary theory. 
He rejected the supernatural from the gospel record. 
His romantic biography of Jesus concludes in these words, 
" Repose now in thy glory, noble founder! Henceforth, 
beyond the reach of frailty, thou shalt witness, from the 
heights of divine peace, the infinite results of thy work. 
For thousands of years the world will defend thee ! Thou 
shalt be the banner about which the hottest battle will be 
given . . . Whatever may be the surprises of the future, 
Jesus will never be surpassed. His worship will grow 
young without ceasing; his legend will call forth tears 
without end; his sufferings will melt the noblest hearts; 
all ages will proclaim that among the sons of men there is 
none born greater than Jesus." 

In view of these concessions made by the leading rep- 
resentatives of unbelief all along the centuries, it is sub- 
mitted that thoughtful people cannot pause in a partial or 
qualified rejection of Jesus Christ. 

(A.) As to his person. Was he man ? Ay, grandly 
so. But he was either less than a true man or more. His 
enemies themselves being witnesses, he was either an im- 
postor or the Divine Man, as he claimed to be. 

(B.) As to his character. He was the one bright par- 
ticular star in a firmament of imperfect lights. He alone 
is worthy to be the exemplar of character, for he alone 
meets the conditions of the ideal manhood. 

(C.) As to his teaching. There have been other sacred 



THE TESTIMONY OF INFIDELS. 1 39 

teachers — Seneca, Confucius, Zoroaster, Sakya-Muni — but 
these were in comparison with him as glow-worms to the 
noonday sun. Never man spake like this Man. 

(D.) As to his work. " He went about doing good." 
And since his crucifixion he has continued the building 
up of a kingdom of truth and righteousness on earth. 
Its outward form is the church, " fair as the moon, clear 
as the sun, and terrible as an army with banners." 

(E.) As to the manner of his death. Ah, here the 
mystery thickens ! Here the power converges. Under 
his cross we learn the truth, justice, holiness, and mercy 
of the living God. And here Christ comes into vital rela- 
tion with our souls. Our God is the God of salvation. 

What therefore shall we say ? As for me, I do be- 
lieve this Jesus is destined to reign even unto the ends 
of the earth. The story of his church is an unbroken 
record of triumph. The government is upon his shoul- 
ders. He is King over all and blessed for ever. 

What more ? As for me, this Christ shall be my Sa- 
viour. Shall he be yours? To doubting Thomas he 
said, " Reach hither thy hand and thrust it into my 
side, and be not faithless but believing." We have 
stood in the presence of his foes; we have listened to 
their words concerning him. Faint praise, indeed ! and 
intended, ofttimes, to pierce as sharp arrows. We have 
thrust our fingers into the wounds of the perfect One. 
Oh let us be faithless no more, but believing ! His ene- 
mies themselves being his judges, he is chiefest among 
ten thousand and altogether lovely. By their testimony 
he is proven to be worthy of our love and devotion. Let 
us therefore, like Thomas, all doubts dispelled, fall before 
him, crying, " My Lord and my God !" 



I40 "THE MORNING COMETH." 

THE CHURCH AND THE PEOPLE. 



"And the lord said unto the servant, Go out into the high- 
ways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may 
be filled." — Luke 14:23. 

The holy life is set forth as a feast. It is a feast of 
fat things and wine upon the lees. All things are ready ; 
abundant provision has been made; the invitations are 
sent out. But, strange to tell, no one accepts. All with 
one consent begin to make excuse. " I have bought a 
piece of ground, and I must needs go and see it ; I pray 
thee have me excused." There spoke the prosperous 
man, whose field was a competence and who had no need 
of spiritual things. " I have purchased five yoke of oxen, 
and am going to try them ; I pray thee have me excused." 
There spoke the busy man, whose devotions were hin- 
dered by his cares. " I have married a wife, and there- 
fore I cannot come." There spoke the happy man, who 
suffered the best of earth's blessings to stand between him 
and heaven. All excuses are bad. Nothing should keep 
a sinner from the feast of God. 

All declined the invitation. Every one of us, without 
exception, if we were left to ourselves, would remain away 
from God ; but, blessed be his name, he worketh in us of 
his own good pleasure to draw us heavenward. He moves 
us by the sweet constraints of love. 

"Why was I made to hear his voice 
And enter while there 's room, 
While thousands make a wretched choice 
And rather starve than come? 



THE CHURCH AND THE PEOPLE. 141 

" 'T was the same love that spread the feast 
That sweetly forced me in, 
Else I had still refused to taste 
And perished in my sin." 

We turn our attention to the multitude who are out 
among the highways and the hedges. 

The lapsed masses, the unchurched people — they are in 
all points by nature such as we. They have a common 
birth, a common experience of joy or sorrow, a common 
destiny. They have the same longing at the bottom of 
their hearts for everlasting life ; but they have a quarrel 
with the church, and, alas, a quarrel with God ! Who 
are they ? 

First, an army of tramps and other disreputables. 
Tens of thousands of them are walking our streets at 
night, ill- clad, hungry, friendless, penniless, with no place 
to rest their aching bones, many of them sodden with 
drink, many ready for any desperate deed. These are 
the submerged tenth. " Submerged !" Significant word ; 
they strangle in the overwhelming flood of sin and shame. 
Yet every one of them was born to noble things and is 
capable of upbuilding into the likeness of God. 

Second, a vast proportion of the artisan class, the 
industrious middle class who are the very bone and sinew 
of the prosperity of our land. In some way they are 
largely alienated from the church. Is it possible that we 
have put Christ away from them ? Have we forgotten 
that Jesus was a carpenter ? On the walls and chancels of 
our great cathedrals we have pictured him as the Holy 
Child in Mary's arms, with a circle of light about his head, 
as the boy Christ in the midst of the learned doctors, as 
the wayfarer going about doing good, as the Redeemer 
in the anguish of the cross, as the Conqueror of death 



142 "THE MORNING COMETH/' 

ascending into the heavens, and always and everywhere 
with that luminous halo about his head. Would it not be 
better to paint him as the carpenter in his shop, the im- 
plements of his trade about him, chips and shavings around 
his feet, weary with the day's toil, wiping the perspiration 
from his brow ? Would it not be better to omit the halo 
and put a workman's cap upon his head ? In that direc- 
tion lies the success of the propaganda among the working 
classes who are the dependence of the nations. We can 
get on without the paupers, though God knows we fain 
would win them to his glory ; we can get on without the 
millionaires, though their souls are beyond price in the 
Father's eyes ; but we cannot get on without the men who 
till the fields and fell the forests and wield the industries 
of the world. 

Third, the lapsed aristocracy. The church has seemed 
oblivious of the fact that in our great metropolitan centres, 
and notably on Manhattan Island, a centrifugal drift has 
long been going on which has carried off a great number 
of our homekeepers. Their places have been taken by a 
greater number of eminently respectable people who dwell 
in our splendid apartment-houses or in palatial suites in 
magnificent hotels. These have thrown off the responsi- 
bilities of domestic life, and with them have largely ab- 
solved themselves, alas, from the responsibilities of the 
sanctuary. A large proportion of this class is prayerless 
and practically godless. The Sunday newspaper is their 
Sabbath soporific. If they go to church it is as Bedouins, 
not as regular worshippers. Of all the unchurched mul- 
titudes, for obvious reasons, these people are the most 
difficult to reach. The church has not yet recognized 
the claims of this lapsed aristocracy. It is high time that 
God's people should go out and constrain them to come in. 



THE CHURCH AND THE PEOPLE. 143 

How shall these various classes of unchurched people 
be reached ? The key of the situation is in two watch- 
words, " The Old Gospel" and " New Methods." 

I. The Old Gospel. There is no improvement here. 
None is possible in the nature of the case. Human 
nature is a constant factor. We have the same wants, 
longings, aspirations, that our fathers had. And the same 
gospel is needed to meet them. This gospel is briefly 
summed up in three facts. 

(1.) Sin. Sin everywhere, dark, abominable, corrupt- 
ing, damning, all-pervasive, ending in spiritual and eter- 
nal death. Any attempt to tone down the character of 
sin is sure to result in inefficiency. The people must 
come to-day as they have always needed to come, beating 
upon their breasts and crying, God be merciful ! 

(2.) Salvation. The cross is ever in the midst. This 
is a faithful saying 'and worthy of all acceptation, that 
Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. The 
blood of Christ cleanseth from all sin, and without the 
shedding of blood there is no remission of sin. 

(3.) Sanctification. The agent in sanctification is the 
Holy Ghost, the medium is Scripture. So Christ prayed, 
" Sanctify them through thy truth ; thy word is truth." It 
is said in certain quarters now that Christianity is not a 
religion of a book. But Christ made it so. " Search the 
Scriptures," he said, " for in them ye think ye have eter- 
nal life, and they are they which testify of me." A loss 
of confidence in the Scriptures means a loss of power. A 
slighted Bible means debility and enervation. A lost Bible 
means absolute and utter weakness. A minister of the 
gospel who cannot in all honesty commend the old-fash- 
ioned Book as an infallible rule of faith and practice will 
not be able to convict, convert, or build up character. 



144 "THE MORNING COMETH." 

Let us therefore, if we would win the multitudes, hold fast 
to the Scriptures as the veritable word of God. 

II. New Methods. Principles are eternal, but the forces 
for their application must be adjusted to the times. Truth 
is the same for ever, but new methods are needed for its 
promulgation. The Bible is the same for ever, yet that 
was a great truth that John Robinson uttered at the em- 
barkation of the pilgrims, " New light shall ever more 
burst forth from the Word of God." Christ is the same 
always, yet history sheds an ever-increasing splendor 
upon his face and gives a greater glory to his presence. 

(i.) We need more zeal than ever. Our earnestness 
must be abreast of this age. When men travelled by land 
in coaches and by sea in galleons the church might pursue 
her work with corresponding deliberation, but now she 
must adjust her plans to those of universal industry. If 
other people are diligent in business, we should be more. 
The Lord himself at the outset of his ministry said, " The 
Spirit q( the Lord God is upon me, for he hath anointed 
me to work wonders and preach the gospel to the poor." 
By the same token we are anointed, consecrated by the 
Spirit, to the building up of the kingdom of truth and 
righteousness. It behooves us to rest not day nor night 
until we have done our utmost to accomplish it. 

(2.) We need a closer touch with the people. Our 
Lord had an intense sympathy with the cares and troubles 
of the masses. He had compassion on the multitude. He 
felt for the rich ; beholding the young ruler, he loved him. 
He felt for the poor and championed their rights. In 
many a poverty-stricken home, this bitter winter's day, 
there are mothers kneeling with their little children about 
them and praying with a desperate fervor that we can 
scarcely apprehend, " Give us this day our daily bread." 



THE CHURCH AND THE PEOPLE. 145 

The heart of Christ's church must ever throb in response 
to human want. In the troublous times of the French 
Revolution a speaker in the Corps Legislatif asked, " Why- 
do i\ot our great men, our priests and philosophers, move 
and save the people ?" A solemn voice replied, " Because 
they are cast in bronze." We who profess the service of 
Christ shall never win the multitudes until our hearts are 
clearly responsive to all their appeals for the betterment 
of body and soul. 

(3.) A broader sweep. All the while we are tempted 
to narrow the application of the gospel. We are warned 
away from the domain of civil life. We are admonished 
not to meddle overmuch with commercial ethics. But 
the gospel has to do with everything that can affect human 
life and citizenship. We must not be warned off. The 
gospel has to do with the physical and metaphysical, with 
science and politics and sociology, with municipal reform, 
with home life and social life. Its lines are gone out into 
all the world and there is nothing hid from the light 
thereof. The gospel is the most universally diffused, 
freest, most unbindable and irrepressible thing in the uni- 
verse. It claims a boundless range, an infinite latitude. 
No man nor government nor ecclesiastical judicatory 
must be permitted to place bands or fetters upon it. In 
behalf of the multitude it must be allowed to concern itself 
with all projects that have to do with the physical and 
moral uplifting of the race. 

(4.) An open door. Much that is said against the 
system of renting pews in our churches is ill-grounded 
and fallacious. There is no good reason why we should 
not have our " family pews." But there is a theory of 
pew-renting which is utterly abominable ; to wit, that be- 
cause a man rents a pew he owns it in fee simple and 

10 



H 6 "THE MORNING COMETH." 

holds an exclusive right to it. This giveth an evil savor 
in the nostrils of God. All pews must be taken under 
the conditions of Christian hospitality. If a man feels 
bound by common courtesy to admit the stranger who 
stands at the doorway of his home, he surely has no right 
to close his pew-door and keep the stranger waiting in 
the vestibule. The courtesy of the sanctuary should be 
upon as high a level as the courtesy of the home. And 
let it ever be remembered that the sanctuary is not the 
house of the pew-holder, but the house of God. 

(5.) A going out. A paper was recently read in a 
ministerial association, " The Secret of Winning the 
Masses." There is no secret about it. The Lord made 
the whole thing plain long ago. He marked out the plan 
of campaign. As to foreign missions he said, " Go ye into 
all lands and preach my gospel," and as to home missions 
he said, u Go ye out into the highways and hedges and 
compel them to come in." In any case and always, 
" Go." It is not enough to build churches and invite the 
people to come in. We must go out and constrain them. 
Paul won Macedonia when he went out after it. Hans 
Egede won Greenland when he went out after it. The 
Salvation Army is winning the unchurched multitudes 
because it is going out after them. Christ won the world 
because he laid aside the robes of heaven and went out 
after it. The church will win when it leaves its cloistered 
retirement and goes forth to win. 

(6.) We must keep our singers in front. There is 
quite too much of melancholy in our methods. " Go 
down against the enemy," said Jahaziel, " and be not dis- 
mayed, for the Lord will be with you." At daybreak 
the army went forth with the singers in front, who as they 
marched sang, " Praise the Lord, for his mercy endureth 



THE CHURCH AND THE PEOPLE. 147 

for ever." A great victory was the result, so that they 
were three days gathering the spoil. 

We speak sometimes as if the multitudes were really 
drifting away from God ; it is not true. Much remains to 
be done, indeed, but there are more people in the Lord's 
house to-day than ever before in the history of the world. 
At the close of the first century there were only five hun- 
dred thousand Christians ; at the close of the fifth century 
there were fifteen millions ; at the close of the tenth, fifty 
millions ; at the close of the fifteenth, one hundred mil- 
lions; at the close of the eighteenth, two hundred millions; 
we have not reached the close of the nineteenth century, 
and there are more than four hundred million adherents 
to the religion of Christ. Surely we have reason to thank 
God and take courage. Everything is going right. The 
Master's house shall be full, the feast is certain to be 
thronged with guests. The only question is whether you 
and I shall be there, and how many happy guests will 
feast themselves at that richly loaded table, under the 
smile of the Glorious Host, because we have gone out 
and compelled them to come in. 



148 "THE MORNING COMETH. 



THE CHURCH IN THE CATACOMBS. 



" They wandered in deserts and in mountains and in dens and 
caves of the earth." Heb. 11 138. 

It is a rare thing for a son to appreciate his inherit- 
ance. The father earns his wealth by driving a plough 
or shoving a plane ; his son, chasing thistledown, squan- 
ders it. " Easy come, easy go." It holds true also in 
spiritual things. The fathers of the church labored, and 
we have entered into their labors. We sit in our pleasant 
sanctuaries and worship God with none to molest us or 
make us afraid, but oh this freedom was purchased origin- 
ally at a great price ! We shall love it the more fervently 
and cherish it the more zealously when we reflect how 
our forebears wrought, toiled, and suffered to secure it. 

An important part of the story is to be learned from 
the catacombs of Rome. These excavations in the tufa> 
or soft volcanic rock which underlies the imperial city, 
were probably made by quarry-men. The galleries are 
three or four feet wide, winding in and out on different 
levels, crossing and recrossing, a distance of four hundred 
miles in all, or greater than from end to end of Italy. On 
either side are shelves or niches for the dead. Here are 
more than three million graves. It is a vast subterranean 
city of the dead — dark, lonely, dismal beyond expres- 
sion, the silence of death over all. This was the rude 
cradle of the infant church. 

On the night of July 16, A. D. 64, a great conflagra- 
tion swept over the city of Rome, burning fiercely for six 



THE CHURCH IN THE CATACOMBS. 149 

days and destroying ten of its fourteen wards. This was 
regarded as a manifestation of the anger of the gods. 
They must be appeased ; a sacrifice must be found. 
How natural that the lot should fall upon the lowly Chris- 
tians. The imperial word went out against them ; " they 
were stoned, they were sawn asunder, they were slain 
with the sword." Whither should they flee? To the 
catacombs. In these dark galleries they found a near 
and safe retreat. And here they were wont to resort for 
a period of three centuries, during the persecutions under 
the successive emperors, under Domitian and Trajan and 
that excellent Marcus Aurelius who divided his time be- 
twixt a philosophy of sweetness and light and the slaugh- 
ter of God's little ones. 

Imagine the life of the early Christians in this desolate 
retreat. They uttered their prayers in low voices, listen- 
ing for the footfall of pursuers, and while they bowed in 
their small chapels under the flickering gleam of lamps 
placed in the burial niches round about, they heard the 
low rumble of the chariot-wheels overhead, telling how 
the bravery and beauty of Rome were hastening to the 
Coliseum, perhaps to witness the heroic death of some of 
their loved ones. At night the mangled bodies of the 
dead were stealthily brought to them and were put away 
in their narrow resting-places. But these were glorious 
days, the seedtime of heroism from which we gather the 
harvests of peace. The hymns they sang were in the 
spirit of heroic resignation to God's sovereign will. Here 
is one which has come down to us : 

11 Tear as you will this mangled frame, 
Prone to mortality ; 
But think not, man of blood, to tame 
Or take revenge on me. 



150 "THE MORNING COMETH/' 

" This, which you labor to destroy 
With so much madness, so much rage, 

Is but a vessel formed of clay, 

Brittle, and hastening to decay. 
Let nobler foes your arms employ ; 

Subdue the indomitable soul ; 
Which, when fierce whirlwinds rend the sky, 
Looks on in calm security 

And bows to God's control." 

We may gain an insight into the life and character of 
these early believers from the symbols which were carved 
in their underground chapels and on the sepulchres of 
their dead. 

I. One of the most familiar symbols is the fish. It 
gets its significance from the fact that the letters of the 
Greek word ichthus, meaning fish, are the initials of the 
words IrjGovq Xpcarog Qeov TCiog Sur^p, Jesus Christ, the Son of 
God, the Saviour. It was not safe to place the name of 
Jesus on the sepulchres of those who believed in him, but 
here was a cipher which could be used to mark their 
narrow homes. And how significant of heroic constancy ! 
These people had left everything for Jesus ; homes, pos- 
sessions, sweet associations — all were gone. Christ only 
remained for them. He was their Alpha and Omega now. 

It is a curious fact in this connection that among the 
inscriptions in the catacombs there is not one to indicate 
that any special reverence was paid to the Virgin Mary. 
Rome is the centre of Mariolatry to-day; yet in these 
galleries beneath the Vatican, where three centuries of the 
earliest Christian life are outlined, there is no Ave Maria. 
Is it not noteworthy that the church lived three cen- 
turies here and left on every side the story of her de- 
votion to Jesus, yet no word or syllable to authenticate 
the Mariolatrous litany of the Romish Church ! It was 



THE CHURCH IN THE CATACOMBS. 151 

not until the believers had passed the heroic period of 
their history that the words began to be heard, " Holy- 
Mother of God, pray for us !" 

II. Another symbol used in the catacombs is the cross. 
It is met with everywhere, in the little chapels where 
the living were wont to worship and on the sepulchres of 
the dead. To these refugees of the early church the cross 
meant everything. It was the eloquent token of their 
spiritual life. By it the Saviour had brought life and 
immortality to light for them. We, alas, have abandoned 
the symbol. I venture the opinion that at this point the 
pendulum of the Reformation, in receding from supersti- 
tion, has swung too far the other way. Why should not 
the cross of Jesus Christ adorn the walls of our churches? 
Why should it not tower aloft from our spires ? 

To the Christians of the catacombs it was an emblem 
full of the power of life. It spoke to them not merely of 
the Saviour's death, but of their own fellowship with it. 
They knew what it was to die daily for Jesus' sake. They 
had indeed taken up the cross to follow him. In these 
piping times of peace we can but dimly apprehend its full 
meaning. Yet then, as evermore, the way of the cross is 
the way of spiritual and eternal life — " Via cruets via 

lucis" 

" Must I be carried to the skies 
On flowery beds of ease, 
While others fought to win the prize 
And sailed through bloody seas ? 

" Sure I must fight if I would reign ; 
Increase my courage, Lord ! 
I '11 bear the toil, endure the pain, 
Supported by thy word." 

III. A third symbol which frequently occurs in the 
catacombs is the anchor. " Which hope we have as an 



1 52 "THE MORNING COMETH." 

anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and which en- 
tereth into that within the veil ; whither the forerunner is 
for us entered, even Jesus/' The life of these heroic be- 
lievers was indeed a stormy voyage ; but they had with 
them a safe chart and a steadfast anchor, and looked on 
towards a final and eternal haven of rest. " A passage 
perilous maketh a port pleasant." 

There is no evidence to show that the life of these 
dwellers in the catacombs was enveloped in gloom. On 
the other hand they were cheery and bright-hearted. On 
one of the chapel walls there is written : 

" There is light in this darkness ; 
There is music in these tombs." 

It is easy for us to say, " For our light affliction, which 
is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding 
and eternal weight of glory ;" but oh how full of signifi- 
cance that assurance must have been to those sufferers for 
the truth's sake ! To them the present was a hand's- 
breadth, the future was illuminated with a regal splendor; 
a moment here, eternity yonder ; affliction now, glory for 
ever. On the sepulchres of their loved ones they inscribed 
Dormit. To sleep suggests an awakening. " If he sleep, 
he shall do well." For them weeping might endure for a 
night, but joy was sure to come in the morning. In the 
morning they would awake in the likeness of their Lord ; 
in the morning they would clasp hands with those who 
had gone before them. 

IV. Yet another of the symbols in the catacombs was 
the palm-bra7ich. Its significance is shown from the fact 
that beside it are frequent portrayals of hooks and forceps 
and iron combs for tearing the flesh. The palm-branch is 
the mark of the martyr's grave. There are multitudes of 
tombs thus designated where those lie resting of whom 



THE CHURCH IN THE CATACOMBS. 1 53 

" the world was not worthy." The Dreamer in the desert 
island saw these multitudes in the upper realms. " After 
this I beheld, and lo, a great multitude, which no man 
could number, of all nations and kindreds and people and 
tongues, stood before the throne and before the Lamb, 
clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands, and 
cried with a loud voice, saying, Salvation to our God 
which sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb. And 
one of the elders answered, saying unto me, What are 
these which are arrayed in white robes ? and whence 
came they? And I said unto him, Sir, thou knowest. 
And he said to me, These are they which came out of 
great tribulation, and have washed their robes and made 
them white in the blood of the Lamb, Therefore are they 
before the throne of God and serve him day and night in 
his temple: and he that sitteth upon the throne shall 
dwell among them. They shall hunger no more, neither 
thirst any more ; neither shall the sun light on them, nor 
any heat. For the Lamb which is in the midst of the 
throne shall feed them, and shall lead them unto living 
fountains of waters : and God shall wipe away all tears 
from their eyes." (Rev. 7 : 9-17.) 

The end of this long story of tribulation came in the 
year 404 A. D., on this wise. A great triumph was being 
celebrated in Rome. The Coliseum was filled with an 
expectant multitude. The games were under way. The 
rope-dancing, the bear-baiting, the performing elephants, 
the foot-races, the chariot-races were followed by the play 
of Orpheus, in which the hero was doomed to the beasts. 
This gave the people their taste for blood. The gladia- 
tors were called for and came forth — Ave C<z$ar / moritu- 
ri te salutamus I They crossed swords and went down 
one by one, the people gloating furiously over every 



154 "THE MORNING COMETH. 

death. All this was witnessed by brave knights and centu- 
rions, by vestal virgins and by mothers and little children. 
But the choicest of the sports was yet to come. A clam- 
orous cry was heard — " The Christians to the lions !" 
And while the arena was being strewn with fresh sand, a 
rude man sprang over the barriers into the open circus, 
bareheaded, barefooted, and signalled to the weary glad- 
iators, waiting on their swords, to fall back. " Oh, ye 
people !" he cried, " cease from the shedding of blood. 
There is a God above; take heed!" There was a mo- 
ment of silence, and then the fury of the populace broke 
forth and the cry arose to the gladiators, " Cut him 
down!" He folded his hands and lifted his face in 
prayer. A moment later his mangled body lay upon the 
sand ; but the face of the nameless monk was seen after- 
wards in dreams. His life had not been squandered ; that 
was the last fight in the Coliseum. Not long afterwards 
the decree of toleration was issued, and the Christians 
came forth out of their hiding-places and praised God 
for the right to worship him. 

How long ago it all seems ! What wonders have been 
wrought since then ! Let us come forth out of the cata- 
combs and look around us. Here are the seven hills ; 
yonder is the desolate Campagna ; the sluggish tide of the 
Tiber still rolls by. The Forum is there, but its columns 
all are crumbling and the voices of its mighty ones are 
hushed. Yonder on the Palatine was Nero's golden house ; 
and Nero's gardens were just over there, lit once by liv- 
ing torches, the Christians smeared with pitch and fired 
to illuminate the revels. In the midst of Nero's gardens 
now rises the magnificent St. Peter's, the golden cross 
upon its dome shining red in the light of the setting 
sun. And the Flavian amphitheatre which rang with the 



THE CHURCH IN THE CATACOMBS. 1 55 

cry, "Ad leones /" its walls are broken and gray and soli- 
tude pervades it. On yonder arch of Titus is the fig- 
ure of the golden candlestick carried away in triumph by 
Jehovah's foes ; but He that standeth in the midst of the 
golden candlestick hath triumphed over all. Above the 
monument of Titus' victory there arises another arch 
spanning the heavens and the earth from sea to sea, a 
bow of promise painted with all the colors of glory and 
formed by the Sun of heaven shining through the tem- 
pest of history ; and lo, there is a cry, " Hosanna ! ho- 
sana! blessed is he that cometh in the name of the 
Lord !" The heavens rend asunder ; He draws near whose 
right it is to reign, clothed with the sun, crowned with a 
diadem of stars, behind him a retinue of angels praising 
him and saying, Thou art worthy to receive power and 
dominion and riches and wisdom and strength and honor 
and glory and blessing for ever and ever ! 

I have read somewhere of a Roman soldier, a vet- 
eran, scarred and crippled, who, hearing over the distant 
hills the dull sounds of battle, buckled on his sword and 
struggled with swift stumbling steps towards the field, 
praying to the gods at every step that he might live to 
mingle in the fray once more. 

O beloved in Christ, the great Armageddon is be- 
ing fought to-day. God through the centuries, working 
through his militant church, has been hastening on the 
fatal consummation. Let us crave the honor of fighting 
at the fore, let us win the service chevron by lending all 
our powers to the heroic struggle for the upbuilding of 
the kingdom of truth and righteousness, for the hastening 
of the triumph of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. 



156 "THE MORNING COMETH." 

A BUSY MAN'S BLUNDER. 



"And as thy servant was busy here and there, he was gone." 

1 Kings 20:40. 

Ahab was a wicked king and a weak one. He had a 
divine commission to destroy Syria. Every man has a 
commission of some sort ; his life-work is to discharge it. 
But Ahab was busy about other things. He was adorn- 
ing his palace ; he was introducing a new state-religion ; 
he was perfecting an elaborate cultus ; he was dallying 
with strange pleasures. The king of Syria came up 
meanwhile and laid siege to Samaria, his capital city. 
A prophet, probably Micaiah, Ahab's good genius, said, 
" Now is your opportunity, O king ; seize it." The 
enemy was in his power ; there had been a protracted de- 
bauch and Ben-hadad was sodden with drink. " Hast 
thou seen all this multitude? Behold, I will deliver it 
into thy hand this day, and thou shalt know that I am 
the Lord." Then Ahab went out against the besiegers 
and put them to flight ; but unfortunately the pursuit was 
not followed up. He went back, congratulating himself on 
his momentary success. Meanwhile the Syrian king, hav- 
ing recovered from his inebriety, called his councillors to- 
gether. They said, " The God of the Israelites is a God of 
the mountains : go out against them and entice them into 
the plains." In pursuance of this advice he rallied his 
army for another assault. Then the prophet came again 
to Ahab and said, " Thou hast another opportunity. Thus 
saith the Lord, ' Because Ben-hadad has said, The God of 
the Israelites is the God of the hills and not of the valleys, 



A BUSY MAN'S BLUNDER. 1 57 

go out against him, and thou shalt know that I am God.' " 
Then followed another terrible battle, in which the Syri- 
ans were overwhelmed ; the ground was covered with their 
dead. Ben-hadad and his body-guard of lieutenants and 
commanders, after hiding for a season, came out and sur- 
rendered with sackcloth on their loins and ropes around 
their necks. Then Ahab, soft-hearted, vainglorious, un- 
mindful of his great commission, proud of showing favor 
to the illustrious power of Syria, spared his royal captive. 
He called him " My brother;" he invited him into his 
chariot ; he entered into an alliance with him. So he lost 
his advantage and fell short of his opportunity; like a 
truant boy who goes bird-nesting when he ought to be 
plodding through the rule of three. 

The Lord is a persistent teacher, and if it be possible 
will teach Ahab yet. Now it is by an acted parable. As 
the king sits in his council-chamber a sorely wounded sol- 
dier enters. He is under sentence of death and begs for 
mercy. This is the story he tells : " O my lord, I went 
forth into the midst of battle and a captive was brought 
unto me by one who said, ' Keep him ; if he escape, thy 
life for his life ;' and while I was busy here and there, ab- 
sorbed in the interest of that fierce hour, carried away by 
the enthusiasm of conflict, lo he was gone !" The king 
cast upon him an angry glance, saying, " So shall thy 
judgment be ; thou hast spoken it ; away to thy death !" 
Then the soldier threw off his disguise and stood forth 
in the prophet's garb. It was Micaiah. " O king, be it 
unto thee as thou hast said : thou art the culprit ; to thee 
was entrusted a great commission; thou mightest have 
made for thyself an immortal name in the chronicles of 
Israel; the opportunity was thine; thou hast lost it. 
Busy about thine own affairs, thou hast forgotten thy 



158 "THE MORNING COMETH." 

nobler tasks; the judgment hath gone forth, the king- 
dom shall be taken from thee." 

I speak to busy men and women. The streets are 
thronged with an eager, hurrying crowd, busy, all busy, 
each in his own province eager to win success. We live 
in a busy age, a busy land, a busy city. There is no rest. 
The very children on their way to school seem over-ear- 
nest. The brows which are presently to be furrowed with 
the sorrow of increasing years are already knit with care. 
All are intent on getting on in the world. 

What is the secret of success ? Sir Walter Scott said, 
" If you would succeed, beware of dawdling." There is 
little danger of dawdling in our tense American life. Be- 
ware rather of over-earnestness in the sordid affairs of life; 
beware of squandering the vital forces ; beware of burning 
life's candle at both ends. 

One of our recent millionaires said, "The secret of 
success is to do one thing." No, this were to attain but 
the briefest and the narrowest success. Do two things 
and do them well, for we are creatures of two worlds. 
We must needs attend to the affairs of the shop and the 
office, the brod-und- butters c haft, and we must never for- 
get the higher tasks. The carpenter of Nazareth did hon- 
est work at his bench, but all the while his heart was say- 
ing, " I have a baptism to be baptized with, and how my 
soul is straitened until I shall accomplish it !" Be faithful, 
O friend, in the common duties of this lower world; but 
oh remember that to seek the kingdom of God and his 
righteousness is first of all. 

Jules Simon says, " The secret of success is to be free. 
If one is free, soul and body, he can do whatsoever he 
will." True indeed. Down at the prison-house at Gaza 
the strong man, blind and fettered, is grinding at the mill. 



A BUSY MAN'S BLUNDER. 1 59 

The heavens are blue above him, the fields are verdant, 
the vineyards on the hillsides are purpling for the vint- 
age ; but, alas, he sees it not, his eyes are out ; the task- 
master stands over him crying, " Grind on !" The merry- 
makers are dancing ; little children laugh as they pass by; 
it is nothing to him. Grind on ! Grind on ! So many a 
man lives, bound to the tasks of his shop or office, seeing 
no visions, though the windows of heaven are open above 
him, and having no interest in the nobler pursuits of life 
around him, for ever grinding at the mill, all his powers 
absorbed in the accomplishing of some narrow, selfish end, 
a mean ambition holding over him a whip of scorpions 
and crying, " Grind on !" until at last, with groping, trem- 
ulous hands, he finds the pillars, and life, like Dagon's 
temple, comes crashing down upon him. . O God, open 
our blind eyes, break off our fetters, and for the accom- 
plishing of our important tasks give us that glorious free- 
dom with which the truth makes free ! 

I say therefore to you, busy men and women, cum- 
bered with serving, absorbed in the round of earthly 
cares, stop and think. Give yourselves time and oppor- 
tunity to dwell upon the great issues which reach on for 
ever. Loose yourselves from the bands of sensual servi- 
tude, lift your eyes from the muck-rake affairs, the get- 
ting and hoarding of this world. Stop and think. 

Think of what ? 

I. I live for ever ; think of that. The moth flies in at 
the window, circles about the candle, singes its poor wings, 
flutters and dies. The eagle mounts upward, kindling its 
eyes at the sun of heaven ; an arrow pierces it — it falls 
and dies. A lion roams the forest, falls into the pit which 
the hunter has prepared for it, struggles in vain, roars in 
its strong agony and dies. And man — he lives, bears his 



l6o ''THE MORNING COMETH. " 

burdens, meets his responsibilities, bows under his sor- 
rows, dreams dreams and sees visions, hopes, suffers, 
agonizes and — dies ? Oh no. His friends bend over him 
and say the man is dead ; but he lives — lives on for ever. 
His body returns to the earth as it was, but his spirit to 
God who gave it. 

And in this he has dominion over all lower forms of be- 
ing. He shares the immortality of that God who breathed 
into his nostrils the breath of an endless life. The ever- 
lasting hills shall crumble to their bases, the last blade of 
grass shall wither in the verdant fields, the last drop of 
water shall be exhaled from the ocean, the world shall be 
burned until it is scorched and barren as yon ruined moon, 
the heavens themselves shall be rolled up as a parched 
scroll, the last star in the firmament shall blink like a 
sleepy eye and then be quenched ; but you and I, chil- 
dren of the immortal God, shall live on for ever and for 
ever. 

Do you ask proof of immortality ? It is forthcoming, 
not from the preacher's lips, but in the voice of the angel 
that dwells in every human soul. Ask of yourself, " If a 
man die shall he live again ?" and hear from within the 
answer, " I shall live and not die." 

The fisherman loves his boat. It has shared with him 
the dangers of the stormy sea. He loves its tiller, the 
oars worn by the heavy grasp of his calloused hands. 
But after a while its seams gap open and his boat wears 
out. He draws it up upon the sands and goes on plying 
his trade in a new boat. I am the boatman, my body is 
the boat ; my body, worn out at last, is beached, but I toil 
on. 

II. Life here is the key of life hereafter. Stop and 
think of that. Death is important, not as being the end 



A BUSY MAN'S BLUNDER. l6l 

of life, but rather as being its commencement. Death 
ends probation, that is all. It marks the crystallization 
of character. " He that is unjust, let him be unjust still ; 
and he that is filthy, let him be filthy still; he that is 
righteous, let him be righteous still ; and he that is holy, 
let him be holy still." 

The penalty of faithlessness is to lose one's opportu- 
nity of reaching the noble end. No pain of retribution 
can be more terrible than that which was involved in the 
Master's curse upon the barren tree : " No man eat fruit 
of thee for ever !" This is to lose one's life, to lose the 
noblest and blessedest part of it. 

The reward of faithfulness is promotion to higher 
tasks. He that is faithful in a little shall be made to rule 
over ten cities. With powers enlarged, with possibilities 
and opportunities multiplied, we shall go on doing good 
and serving God through the endless ages. 

Death determines whether the penalty of faithlessness 
or the reward of faithfulness shall be accorded to us. On 
the night when John Bradford was sentenced to death 
the jailer's wife came running in and said, " O Mr. Brad- 
ford, I bring thee heavy tidings ! To-morrow thou diest ! 
The men are even now gathering the fagots for the fire." 
He answered, " Good dame, why tremblest? What 
matters it whether I die to-morrow or the day after ? I 
am quite ready." 

III. Duty is the principal thing. Here is something 
worthy of your attention. Stop and think of it. 

Duty is the thing which is due. To whom ? 

(i.) To one's self. It is a matter of the utmost mo- 
ment that a man shall make the most of himself. That 
was a gracious word which was spoken by Norman Mac- 
Leod in old Barony Kirk in his eulogy of Prince Albert, 
ii 



162 "THE MORNING COMETH," 

" The most valuable thing he left was character." And, 
indeed, the good prince could scarcely have left a more 
valuable thing. 

(2.) Duty is what we owe to others. The old poet 
Daniel said wisely, 

" Unless he can 
Erect himself above himself, 
How poor a thing is man." 

It behooves us all as well-meaning people to do good as 
we have opportunity unto all men. 

(3.) The summit of duty is what we owe to God. Not 
merely to worship him, but to live for his glory. There 
is no more beautiful ruin than Melrose Abbey ; its out- 
lines are so graceful, its sculptures so delicate. Climb up 
along its columns and look in between the scrolls of its 
capitals, and you shall see that all its carvings, even 
where there was no probability that any human eye should 
see, are almost as delicate as lace. It means that the 
devout old monks and other workmen wrought as being 
mindful that God would see. Oh that we might thus be 
ever living as under the great Taskmaster's eye I All 
that we do, though it be only to eat or drink, should be 
done to the glory of God. 

These are thoughts to dwell upon amid the hurry of 
our daily life. Let us look forth as from the windows of 
a high tower upon the blessed things of the far country ; 
let us be mindful that our life here is only a hand- 
breadth, while its issues reach on through countless 
ages. 

Life is our prisoner. Alas ! if we should lose it. " For 
what shall a man be profited, if he shall gain the whole 
world and forfeit his life ? or what shall a man give in 



A BUSY MAN'S BLUNDER. 163 

exchange for his life ?"* Have you wasted it thus far ? 
The blood cleanseth : be forgiven and let the past suffice 
for the working of the will of the flesh. Now begin to 
live. Lord Bacon said many wise things, but never a 
wiser than this: " Not to resolve is to resolve not." To 
postpone the great decision is to refuse to make it — yes, 
even worse, is to decide against God and heaven and 
eternal blessedness. 

" To-morrow ! and to-morrow ! and to-morrow ! 
Creeps in this petty pace from day to day 
Till the last syllable of recorded time, 
And all our yesterdays have lighted fools 
The way to dusty death.' ' 

If these considerations seem just and weighty, let us 
act upon them; if in our past life we have neglected the 
important things of eternity, let us trifle no longer, let us 
be wise to-day. 

* Revised Version. 



164 "THE MORNING COMETH. 



THE BAPTISM OF JESUS. 



" And it came to pass in those days that Jesus came from Nazareth 
of Galilee, and was baptized of John in Jordan. And straight- 
way coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens opened 
and the Spirit, like a dove, descending upon him : and there 
came a voice from heaven, saying, Thou art my beloved Son, 
in whom I am well pleased." Mark 1:9-11. 

" In those days " — that is, in the days of the world's 
despair. The lights were gone out in the sanctuary. 
There was no more open vision. The oracles were dumb. 
The gods, exposed and derided, had fallen from their 
pedestals and lay with their faces in the dust. The phi- 
losophers were put to an open shame. The rabbis of 
Israel were chattering about mint and anise and cummin. 
The people had settled down into confessed and hopeless 
apathy. 

The spirit of the age found expression in such ques- 
tions as, Is there a God ? What is truth ? If a man die, 
will he live again ? Is there anything better than to eat, 
drink, and be merry ? 

" On that hard pagan world disgust 
And sated loathing fell ; 
Deep weariness and sated lust 
Made human life a hell. 

" In his cool hall with haggard eyes 
The Roman noble lay, 
He drove abroad in furious guise 
Along the Appian Way. 



THE BAPTISM OF JESUS. 165 

He made a feast, drank fierce and fast, 
And crowned his hair with flowers ; 

No easier nor no quicker passed 
The impracticable hours." 

In those days there was a carpenter in the town of 
Nazareth who was destined to wield the sceptre of the 
ages. He was waiting for the fulness of time, and mean- 
while he wrought steadily at his lower tasks. The farmer 
came with his wooden plough, the village dame with her 
decrepit furniture, and he mended them. The children 
of the village passed by his door ; he smiled upon them, 
spoke a cheery word, and they went their way. As he 
stood among the shavings, plying the implements of his 
trade, he must oftentimes have murmured, " I have a 
baptism to be baptized with, and how is my soul strait- 
ened until it shall be accomplished !" 

In those days came John the Baptist, preaching and 
saying, " Repent ye, for the kingdom of heaven is at 
hand." Out of the wilderness, clad in a prophet's garb, 
with a hempen cord about his loins, a gaunt, stern 
man, he came announcing the coming of the Christ. 
" The woodman cometh," he cried, " with an axe in his 
hand, and he will lay it at the root of the tree, and every 
barren tree shall be cut down and cast into the fire." 
" The winnower cometh," he cried, " with fan in hand, 
and he shall surely purge the floor and the chaff shall be 
cast into unquenchable fire." A strange gospel this, a 
strange heralding of the Prince of Peace — the axe, the 
fan, and always the unquenchable fire ! Repent ye ! 
repent ye ! for He cometh whose shoe's latchet I am not 
worthy to loose. 

The air is close and heavy before the storm; the 
skies are yellow; we struggle for breath. Then comes 



166 "THE MORNING COMETH." 

the tempest ; the clouds sweep overhead, the winds roar 
through the forest like voices of fury; the trees are 
twisted and torn, the windows above are opened; the 
skies are seamed with lurid lightnings, like knotted and 
swollen veins upon an angry face. Then comes the lull 
of the tempest, calm and silence, sunshine and the sing- 
ing of birds, and you throw your shoulders back and 
breathe ; the whole world is brighter and better for the 
storm. So came John the Baptist preaching of the axe 
and the winnowing-fan and preparing the way for the 
Prince of Peace. 

One day he was baptizing at the water's edge at Beth- 
abara. The bank of the swift Jordan was lined with the 
eager multitudes who had come thronging from Jerusalem 
and Judaea, the regions round about. " Repent ye ! re- 
pent ye I" rang his voice above the roar of the swift-roll- 
ing, tumultuous river. " Cast up a highway for the coming 
of the King !" One and another of his hearers came down 
to the water's edge, saying, " I repent ; baptize me." The 
day waned; it was towards eventide. Then one de- 
tached himself from the crowd and came down towards 
the river — a man of the people in homespun garb, before 
whom the prophet of the wilderness quailed and trembling 
cried, " Behold ! behold the Lamb of God !" 

And as Jesus came near he said, " Not thou, O Mas- 
ter. I am the unworthy one ! I have need to be baptized 
of thee." And Jesus answered, " Suffer it to be so now, 
for thus it becometh me to fulfil all righteousness." Then 
the heavens were opened above and a blessed commerce 
began — prayers ascending and blessings returning — which 
never has ceased until this day. And down from above 
came the Spirit of God in form like a brooding dove, 
symbolizing the descent of peace to the sin-troubled world, 



THE BAPTISM OF JESUS. 1 67 

and bringing to earth a benediction that passeth all un- 
derstanding. And a voice was heard, " This is my be- 
loved Son." It was heard afterward, again and again. Some 
said, " It thundereth," and they spake well, for it was in- 
deed a tremendous truth that was uttered, " This is my 
beloved Son." O friend, have you ever heard it uttered 
in reverberating tones from heaven ? " This is my be- 
loved Son ; hear ye him." 

What was the significance of all this ? What is the 
meaning of this baptism of Jesus ? It was the formal 
induction into the active duties of his mediatorial office. 
He would return to the carpenter's shop no more. In 
vain shall the farmer bring his plough. Little children will 
look wonderingly at the closed door. The saw will hang 
against the wall, the dust lie thick upon the bench, the 
shavings be undisturbed on the floor. The carpenter 
of Nazareth has left his lower tasks and entered upon his 
ministry. The hour has come; his soul shall be straitened 
no more. 

What does this mean for us ? 

I. To-day he enters with us into the fellowship of 
duty. Thus it becometh me, he said, to fulfil all right- 
eousness. He was a loyal Jew, and the new economy 
had not begun as yet. If a son of Levi must be washed 
at the brazen laver on assuming his ministerial functions, 
so shall Jesus ; but instead of the temple we have the deep 
valley and the overarching skies; instead of the laver, 
the swift-flowing Jordan ; instead of the anointing, the de- 
scent of the dove, the Spirit of God. 

This Jesus is the source and centre of all the right 
precepts and injunctions ; his heart is the throne of law ; 
the writings of Sinai are the flashings of his eye ; yet 
under the Law he bows and passes into servitude. 



168 "THE MORNING COMETH." 

Though equal with God, he took upon him the form of a 
servant and became obedient. The inaugural rite is his 
bounden duty ; to obey is better than sacrifice. " Thus it 
becometh me, as the ideal man, the Son of man, to fulfil 
all righteousness." If he thus respected the humblest 
duty, then surely, beloved, the same is becoming in us. 

There is no nobler word in all our vocabulary than 
" duty." Our mere apprehension of moral obligation is 
the token of our divine lineage. An infant grasps at the 
stars. No offspring of the lower orders does it. Time 
passes and the infant, grown to manhood, still reaches for 
the stars. But they are far away ; and the interstellar 
spaces are infinite. The province of duty is our vast uni- 
verse. When we have done our best we must still confess, 
" I count not myself to have apprehended." The stars are 
still far away. But this is God-like, to reach forth, to 
strive after character, to obey, to fulfil all righteousness to 
the utmost of our power. Jesus revered his duty ; so let 
us bow to ours. 

II. In this ordinance our blessed Lord comes with us 
into the fellowship of penitence. We mourn sometimes 
that at the tenderest point of human life and experience he 
cannot feel with us, for he was human in all points, yet 
without sin. He could not indeed mourn over personal 
sin. Of all the multitude that lined the Jordan bank, 
hearkening to John's call to repentance, he alone could 
say, " I need it not." 

And yet there is a sense in which Jesus can sympathize 
with our sorrow for sin. He took upon himself the bur- 
den of our transgressions ; he identified himself with us in 
our attitude of guilt before the offended law. He was no 
sinner, and yet in our behalf he became the very chief of 
sinners, for the world's sin was laid upon him. He felt 



THE BAPTISM OF JESUS. 169 

our pain, our contrition, our despair; all that sin entails 
upon a guilty soul he bore for us. 

A strange thing happened recently in one of our courts 
of justice. A young man was asked if he had aught to say 
why the extreme penalty should not be passed upon him. 
At that moment a gray-haired man, his face furrowed 
with sorrow, stepped into the prisoner's box unhindered, 
placed his hand affectionately upon the culprit's shoulder, 
and said, " Your honor, we have nothing to say. The 
verdict which has been found against us is just. We have 
only to ask for mercy." " We I" — there was nothing 
against this old father; yet in that moment he lost himself; 
he identified his very being w r ith that of his wayward boy. 

So Christ in this baptism pushes his way to a place 
beside us, lays his hand upon the sinner's shoulder, and 
bears the shame and sorrow with him. Oh presently, up 
yonder, he will stand beside us ; again we shall be silent 
and shamefaced, but he will speak : " Thou Judge of all 
the earth, true and righteous altogether, the sentence has 
gone forth justly against this man ; but I have borne his 
penalty ; my heart broke on Calvary under the burden of 
his sin; for my sake let him go free. ,, So it is written, 
" He was numbered with the transgressors ; he bare the 
sins of many ; the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of 
us all." 

III. He enters also in this inaugural ordinance into the 
fellowship of divine filiation with us. " Thou," said the 
voice from above, " art my beloved Son." We were alien- 
ated from the Heavenly Father; but in the sonship of 
Jesus the way of restoration is opened unto us. He be- 
comes the first-born among many brethren; in him we 
receive the spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, " Abba ! 
Father!" 



17° "THE MORNING COMETH." 

Thanks be to God for this voice of thunder, "Thou 
art my Son." We have heard it reverberating along the 
corridors of truth. The scriptures are full of the sonship 
of Jesus. He walks amid the oracles, his face like the sun 
shining in his strength. We have heard it in the story of 
personal experience : the sorrowing Magdalens, the peni- 
tent thieves, the weeping Peters of all the centuries, have 
certified to the grace of the Elder Brother as the only- 
begotten of God. We have heard it in history. There is 
a mingled sound of falling thrones and dynasties, of ham- 
mers and trowels among the stones of rising temples, of 
the rustling wings of the angels of the morning, of the 
singing of the nations that were once in darkness and the 
shadow of death, like the sound of many waters, like the 
reverberance of the heavens, " This is my beloved Son." 
Oh sweet and blessed fellowship ! We are his humble 
brethren, and there is something more in Christ Jesus 
still before us : " Now are we the sons of God, and it doth 
not yet appear what we shall be." 

The grace of the infinite God came down to earth as 
Pharaoh's daughter came down to the river side, and found 
us helpless, motherless, famishing. It has taken us up to 
the King's house, brought us to the King's table, clothed 
us in purple, and given us the assurance of a royal inher- 
itance. We also are sons and daughters of the living 
God. Not like Jesus indeed. Oh ! there is a bridgeless 
gulf between his affiliation with God and ours ; he is the 
" Only-Begotten ;" and yet we are acknowledged in the 
Beloved as children of God. The time will come when 
the full significance of this will be revealed to us. Mean- 
while we pass here our years of apprenticeship ; doing 
faithful work in the province of duty ; earnest, steadfast, 
hopeful ; mending ploughs and harrows in the shop, until 



THE BAPTISM OF JESUS. 171 

one bright day we too shall be called away to hear the 
voice, " Thou art my beloved son !" Let us bow our 
backs cheerfully to the burden ; let us acquiesce in salu- 
tary discipline; let us with lowly heart receive the full 
blessing of our divine adoption ; and oh ! let us love with 
pure hearts, fervently, this Brother of ours by whose me- 
diation we have the great inheritance, whose right hand 
will presently lead us through the door of the Father's 
house to the Father's table, where we shall abide as mem- 
bers of the family of God ! 



I7 2 "THE MORNING COMETH. 



THE PHARISEE'S PRAYER. 



" The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank 
thee that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, 
adulterers, or even as this publican. I fast twice in the week, 
I give tithes of all that I possess." Luke 18:11, 12. 

If we should be unsaved, the Lord will be blameless. 
He has wooed us and warned us to the utmost. He has 
set before us a multitude of exceeding great and precious 
promises covering the present time and reaching out unto 
the life everlasting, and he has compassed us about with 
admonitions. It is written, " A reproof entereth more into 
a wise man than a hundred stripes into a fool." The 
Lord knew whereof he spake ; the traps and the pitfalls of 
the journey were all known to him. His warnings are 
like beacons kindled along the way. 

Here is one. A man in the night and the solitude is 
conning his ledger. He congratulates himself on his 
magnificent profits. " What shall I do ?" he murmurs ; 
" my goods are greatly increased. I will tear down my 
barns and build greater ; I will say to my soul, Soul, thou 
hast much goods laid up for many years ; take thine ease, 
eat, drink, and be merry." And a voice breaks in upon 
his soliloquy, " Thou fool ! this night thy soul shall be re- 
quired of thee : then whose shall those things be which 
thou hast provided ?" And what is the lesson ? Beware 
of avarice, of covetousness, of a selfish life. 

Here is another of these beacons. A man stands at 
the corner of the street making his long prayer. Broad 



THE PHARISEE'S PRAYER. 1 73 

are his ceremonial fringes and conspicuous is the band 
upon his forehead, upon which is written, " Hear, O 
Israel, the Lord, thy God, is one Lord." He drops 
his eyes, he folds his hands. The people who pass by 
behold him with admiration, saying, "This is a holy 
man." But the Voice breaks in upon his devotion, " Woe 
unto thee, O rabbi ! praying in order to be seen of men ; 
how shalt thou escape the damnation of hell ?" What is 
the lesson ? Take heed and beware of hypocrisy, of wear- 
ing a mask and of seeming to be better than thou art. 

And here are five virgins, sleeping by the wayside in 
the flickering light of their expiring lamps. At the cry, 
" Behold, the bridegroom cometh !" they arise and rub the 
slumber from their eyes, trim their lamps, and hasten to 
the bridegroom's house. Too late ! They knock and 
cry, " Lord ! Lord ! open unto us !" And the voice from 
within answers, " I never knew you." And the lesson ? 
Beware of procrastination, of heedlessness, of putting off 
thy duty. Be wise to-day. 

Here is a group of malefactors on their way to execu- 
tion, their faces fallen upon their breasts, their hands 
manacled. What have they done ? To them was com- 
mitted the husbandman's estate. The just demand for 
recompense was refused again and again. At length the 
Master sent his beloved son, saying, " Surely they will heed 
him." But they stoned him and cast him out; wherefore 
they are sentenced to death, and with manifest justice. 
What will the Master teach thereby ? Beware of adding 
to the category of thy many sins the crowning iniquity of 
rejecting the King's Son. 

So are we admonished again and again by these para- 
bolic figures, clear and impressive as those living torches 
which Nero cruelly kindled along the Roman ways. 



174 "THE MORNING COMETH." 

This Pharisee is one of them. His sin was self- right- 
eousness. The Lord spake this parable, as it is written, 
4< unto certain that trusted in themselves that they were 
righteous, and despised others." 

There is danger of passing a too severe judgment on 
this man. There are some things to be said in his favor, 

First, he was no hypocrite. Among his co-reli- 
gionists there were those who pretended to be what they 
knew they were not. But this man thought himself to be 
righteous and frankly said so. He would not have been 
honest otherwise. Had he confessed himself a sinner 
while believing himself to be a saint, he would have been 
a hypocrite. God desireth truth in the inmost parts. The 
meanest of all sins is hypocrisy. It is something to be 
able to absolve an evil-doer of this. 

" God knows I 'm no the thing I should be, 
Nor am I e'en the thing I could be ; 
But twenty times I rather would be 

An atheist clean, 
Than under gospel colors hid be 
Just for a screen." 

Second^ he was no flagrant malefactor. He was not, 
as he said, " like other men." Near by stood a money- 
changer, an extortioner, a very Shylock, wont to devour 
widows' houses and grind the faces of the poor. " I thank 
thee, Lord, that I am not like this man." Yonder stood 
an adulterer, his name bandied about from mouth to 
mouth, his offence an open scandal against the church. 
" I thank thee, Lord," said our Pharisee very justly, " that 
I am not like this man." Off yonder stood a publican, 
shame-faced, beating on his breast, as well he might, for 
was he not a wretched renegade, an apostate from Israel ? 
" I thank thee," said our Pharisee again, " that I am not 



THE PHARISEES PRAYER. 1 75 

like this man." Let us give him his utmost due. He 
avoided the conspicuous vices ; he was a moral man. 

Third, he was no infidel. On the other hand, he was 
scrupulous in his attendance to the requirements of the 
ceremonial law. No doubt he occupied one of the high- 
est seats in the synagogue. He was, as we say, a mem- 
ber of the church in good and regular standing. He hon- 
ored the stated appointments. " I fast twice every week," 
said he. The law required him to fast only on the great 
Day of Atonement— just one day in each year — but he 
accumulated virtue by abstaining from food every Monday 
and Thursday. " I pay tithes of all I possess." This also 
was beyond the necessity of the case. The law required 
only a tithe of the income. This man, however, was 
known as a great giver — a giver of the tithe of his mint 
and anise and cummin. In all these things our Pharisee 
was right in saying that he was not as other men. 

Fourth, he was thankful. Deep down in his heart he 
rejoiced in this splendid showing of morality and piety. 
There are men who feel precisely as he did, but have 
not the grace to make public acknowledgment of it. 
That " I thank thee, God," is certainly to the credit of the 
man who uttered it. 

So indeed this Pharisee was not as black as we have 
oftentimes painted him. As we have seen, there were 
many things in his favor, and so far as we are aware there 
was only one thing against him. 

We turn now to consider this worshipper's one fault, 
his self-righteousness. He was a type of a multitude of 
eminently respectable people who trust in themselves that 
they are righteous. Let us observe what is involved in 
this sin. 

(1.) Infatuation. The Pharisee was utterly mistaken 



176 "THE MORNING COMETH." 

as to his real character. He said, " I am not like other 
men." God said, " There is no difference." 

A sinner is a sinner. His respectability does not alter 
or modify the main fact. At this moment all Paris is dis- 
turbed over the conviction of some of its most eminent 
dignitaries of misappropriating the Panama Canal funds, 
There is a general outcry against the punishment of these 
reputable gentlemen. What matters it that they have 
stolen outright some millions of francs ? Are they not 
gentlemen, cultured, eminent indeed in society ? On the 
outer boulevards the canaille are perpetrating their petty 
thefts, stealing a loaf for their hunger or a ragged garment 
to cover their nakedness. Away to the prison with them ; 
but as for De Lesseps and Eiffel, let them go ! Ah, 
God's thoughts are not as our thoughts, nor his ways as 
our ways. There are no respectable sinners in the divine 
sight. There is no difference: we have all sinned and 
come short of the glory of God. 

(2.) Uncharitableness. Another element in the self- 
righteousness of this Pharisee was uncharitableness ; as it is 
written, " He despised others." It takes a rogue to catch 
a rogue. For a like reason, none but the conscious sin- 
ner can feel for his erring brother. A fellow-feeling 
makes one wondrous kind. 

Who was it wrote the " Universal Prayer"? 

" Teach me to feel another's woe, 
To hide the fault I see ; 
That mercy I to others show, 
That mercy show to me." 

Who but Alexander Pope with his thousand open 
faults ? 

Who was it wrote the " Bridge of Sighs "? 



THE PHARISEE'S PRAYER. 177 

" Owning her weakness, 
Her evil behavior, 
And leaving, with meekness, 
Her sins to her Saviour !" 

Who but Tom Hood, with his many weaknesses ? 

And who was it that wrote the " Address to the unco' 
guid"? 

" Then at the balance let 's be mute, 
We never can adjust it ; 
What 's done we partly may compute, 
But know not what 's resisted.' ' 

Who but Robbie Burns, who many a time staggered 
down the road from Tarn O'Shanter's inn to Alloway 
cottage ? 

We cannot despise others when we know our own in- 
firmities. Find me a complacent moralist, and I will find 
you a man with no bowels of compassion. 

(3.) Mark the Pharisee's presumption. With respect 
to himself his self-righteousness was infatuation ; with 
respect to others it was uncharitableness ; with respect to 
God it was arrant presumption. 

We speak of this Pharisee's prayer, but he made no 
prayer. He confessed no fault, no need. " I thank thee, 
God," said he, " that I am not as other men." It was an 
imposing laudation of self. 

The quaint old poet Crashaw puts it thus : 

11 Two went to pray, 
Or rather to say, 
One went to brag — 
The other to pray. 
" One stands up close 
And treads on high 
Where the other 
Dares not lend his eye. 
12 



178 *"THE MORNING COMETH." 

"One nearer to 
God's altar trod, 
The other to 
The altar's God." 

The Pharisee's prayer was like a painted ship upon a 
painted ocean, as fair to outward seeming as any vessel 
under sail; but its keel cut no furrow in the mighty deep; 
it carried no wants to the regions beyond and brought 
back no cargo of gold and spices. The Pharisee knew 
no sin and therefore asked for no pardon. His righteous- 
ness lacked the one thing needful. He had heard of 
Messiah who was to die in behalf of his people, that they 
might be delivered from the shame and penalty and 
bondage of their sins. He had no need, however, for 
the gracious offices of that Mediator. He was proud of 
his own attainments and did not perceive that in the sight 
of the Holy God all his righteousnesses were but as filthy 
rags. 

" One thing thou lackest," said the Saviour to the 
young ruler. The one thing lacking in his case, as in that 
of this Pharisee, was the very thing on which salvation is 
conditioned, to wit : an apprehension of God's pardoning 
grace. A stowaway, dragged out from behind the casks 
and bundles in the hold of a vessel, is in no wise worse 
than a cabin passenger, save only that he lacks a ticket ; 
but therein he lacks the great pre-requisite, in default of 
which he must needs take his place among the stokers. 

O friend, conscious of a noble purpose to live up- 
rightly, yet refusing the strength and guidance of God's 
own beloved Son, and unshriven for the mislived past, 
one thing thou lackest! Go, part with everything and 
win an interest in the Saviour's sacrifice, and then, boast- 
ful no longer of thine own righteousness, lean hard on 



THE PHARISEE'S PRAYER. 1 79 

Him for ever. If thou shalt ever present thyself accept- 
able at the throne of heaven, it will be, not because of 
personal merit, but clothed in His righteousness as with 
fine linen, clean and white. 

When we have done our utmost we still fall short of 
the glory of God. The best of sinners has a reason to 
cry out at every eventide, " Have mercy upon me, O God, 
according to thy lovingkindness !" The most immaculate 
of moralists is still a guilty man. 

In its last reduction the only virtue is faith in the 
Saviour of the world. 

u Talk they of morals ? O thou bleeding Lamb ! 
The true morality is love of Thee." 



ISO "THE MORNING COMETH. 



THE PUBLICAN'S PRAYER. 



" And the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as 
his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God 
be merciful to me a sinner. " Luke 18:13. 

Our Lord gave little attention to the inculcation of 
abstract truth. He taught in object-lessons, using in large 
measure the kindergarten method. There was no attempt 
at the appearance of profundity. He desired to present 
truth in terms so simple that a wayfaring man, though a 
fool, might understand it. The truths which are advanced 
in his gospel are in concrete form and not infrequently 
formulated in living flesh and blood. This is of advantage 
for both plainness and picturesqueness. 

Here is a woman afflicted with an incurable malady, 
who, learning that Jesus is passing through the village, 
makes her way through the crowd in the desperate hope 
of being healed by his touch. She accomplishes her pur- 
pose, lays her hand upon the hem of his garment, and 
feels with inexpressible joy the sudden thrill of health. 
What does this mean ? Faith. It teaches .the power of 
faith, that is, of personal contact with the Divine, only 
more effectively than could have been done in an elabo- 
rate discourse. 

Here is a poor creature rescued from the slums by the 
encouraging word of Jesus, " Come unto me, all ye that 
labor and are heavy-laden, and I will give you rest." In 
deep passion of gratitude she brings an alabaster-box of 
ointment, her most priceless possession, and pours it upon 



THE PUBLICAN'S PRAYER. l8l 

Jesus' feet, weeping meanwhile and wiping his feet with 
her flowing hair. And when the disciples would have 
rebuked her, the Lord said, " Let her alone ; she hath 
wrought a good work on me." What does this mean ? 
Love — love that covereth a multitude of sins. A whole 
library of elaborate discourses could not have shown its 
nature so well. 

In the court oi the temple a poor widow drops two 
mites into Corban. There are other contributors there, 
rich men and ostentatious pietists, who throw their golden 
coins sonorously into the trumpet-mouth of the contribu- 
tion-box : but of this poor widow the Master said, " She 
hath given more than they all." What does this mean ? 
The grace of giving. Nor has all the literature on syste- 
matic beneficence in these last days covered the case so 
thoroughly. 

A wayfarer as he passes along the " bloody way " that 
leads from Jerusalem down to Jericho hears a groan and 
turns aside to answer it. The priests have been along that 
way and the Levites have given no heed. He finds the 
suffering one, binds up his wounds, and cares for him. 
The lesson is benevolence. All that Herbert Spencer 
and the professors of sociology have contributed to the 
subject have added little or nothing to this simple and 
comprehensive outline of true neighborliness. 

A thief is dying on the cross. His life has been passed 
in sin and shame, but he cries in the supreme moment of 
his anguish and despair, " Lord, remember me !" The 
answer is, " To-day thou shalt be with me in Paradise." 
Thus briefly does the great Master teach the power of 
saving grace. 

" Twixt the saddle and the ground, 
Mercy sought is mercy found.' , 



182 "THE MORNING COMETH." 

It will be observed that all the foregoing persons were 
nameless. Names are nothing ; the important thing is the 
virtue that shines through the life. And here in this 
publican we have another of the anonymi. There is little 
or nothing attractive about him. He was a pariah, a 
renegade Jew, a collector of Roman tribute. He was 
hated and despised — a dog of a publican. He was not 
allowed to enter the Temple or to testify in the courts of 
justice. It is a noteworthy fact that tax-collectors are a 
despised class in Oriental countries to this day. And how 
they are hated over in Ireland ! the factors, the landlord's 
men ; and in Scotland too. Burns pays them his compli- 
ments in the " Twa Dogs :" 

" Poor tenant bodies, scant o' cash, 
How they maun thole a factor's snash : 
He 11 stamp an' threaten, curse an* swear, 
He '11 apprehend them, poind their gear ; 
While they maun stan' wi' aspect humble 
An' hear it a', an' fear an' tremble I" 

The ancient tax-collector was much the same. He had 
only one friend; Jesus was called the " Friend of publi- 
cans." 

The publican here referred to was chosen to enforce 
the lesson how to approach God. 

I. Observe his face. It expresses a want. " Prayer is 
the soul's sincere desire." The first assurance of success 
at the mercy-seat is to " want something." 

We were taught in the theological seminary that every 
well-ordered prayer should consist of four parts, to wit, 
adoration, thanksgiving, confession, and supplication. 
But this man in his eagerness forgot all courtesy and 
leaped over all but the last. In like manner Bartimseus 
spent no time in the preliminaries of devotion, but cried 



THE PUBLICAN'S PRAYER, 1 83 

again and again, " O thou Son of David, have mercy 
upon me !" One thing he desired, one thing he must 
have : " Oh that I might receive my sight !" 

We complain of wandering thoughts : we kneel at our 
devotions and our thoughts go fluttering away from us 
like the English sparrows that flit and twitter in the trees. 
The remedy for this is to have a want. Let us pause at 
the threshold of prayer as Jeanie Deans did at the door 
of the audience-room, laying her hand upon her heart. 
Let us, if we would present a petition at the throne of 
heavenly grace, feel the parchment to make sure it is 
there. 

II. Observe his egotism, " God be merciful to me." 
Here was no circumlocution. He had been told, doubt- 
less, that rulers and all in authority must be prayed for. 
He knew that the heathen multitudes lying in darkness 
and the shadow of death should be prayed for. But he 
did not think of one beside himself. And he was right. 
Let the sinner, first of all, set himself right with God. To 
say the Lord's Prayer, to repeat the Litany, to pray for the 
world in its weakness and wickedness, if the suppliant 
himself is still unreconciled with God, is surely an empty 
form. This publican felt his sin. It rose to vast propor- 
tions before his eyes. It seemed like a mountain separa- 
ting between him and God. There might be other 
sinners in the world, but he was aware of only one. " God 
be merciful to me, the sinner." He heard the Pharisee 
saying, " God, I thank thee that I am not as other men ; I 
fast twice every week, I give tithes of all I possess." And 
he in his distress murmured, " Oh, if I were only as good 
as he ! I have done no fasting, I have paid in no tithes ; 
God pity me !" 

III. Observe his theology. For there is a whole system 



1 84 "THE MORNING COMETH." 

of theology in his brief prayer. The sum and substance 
of all spiritual truth is in the linking of sin with pardon, in 
finding a bridge to span the infinite chasm between a 
condemned culprit and his offended God. This publican 
had found it. That bridge is Mercy — " God be merci- 
ful." In that word is the one answer to the old query, 
" How can God be just and yet justify the ungodly ?" For 
the prayer is literally, " Be propitiated unto me." In 
that word, which finds its full significance in the sacrifice 
upon the Cross, is the full answer to the query, " How 
shall a man be just with God ?" 

In 1848 Fergus O'Connor came up to the House of 
Commons with a Chartist petition to which were affixed 
5,700,000 names. All these had one desire and thus uni- 
tedly expressed it. But in all the world there is not one 
living man who does not need mercy. There are sixteen 
hundred millions of people, and every one of them is a 
sinner under sentence of spiritual and eternal death. In 
the heart of every one is a longing to know the way of 
escape, and the only way of escape is in the mercy of God. 

IV. Observe his attitude. He stood afar off, thus 
showing his reverence. He drooped his eyes, thus mani- 
festing his humility. He beat upon his breast where all 
his trouble lay, for his was a malady of the heart, and thus 
he showed his earnestness. This man had not learned his 
prayer in any philosophic school nor at the feet of any 
doctrinal teacher, but out of the deep experience of his 
soul, and every word that he uttered was blistered with a 
tear. 

Our Lord tells of a certain widow who, having suffered 
wrong, presented herself before the magistrate, entreating 
him to avenge her. It was his business to avenge her ; 
this is what justices are for. If all who have been wronged 



THE PUBLICAN'S PRAYER. 185 

were to present themselves at the door of our justices and 
magistrates — the widows and those who are worse than 
widows, the fatherless and those who have been made 
worse than fatherless by the iniquities of the dramshop 
and the gambling hell — the days and nights would be 
vociferous with their appeals. But alas ! the magistrates 
of to-day are much like those of the olden time. This 
widow could not get a hearing, but she went again and 
again. He could not rid himself of her. She wearied 
him. As he entered his home at night he saw her. Then 
in his dreams he saw her at his door. In the early morn- 
ing there she was, crying, "Avenge me." At length he 
said, " Because she wearieth me I will avenge her." 
Shall not the Lord much more — oh blessed a fortiori / — 
avenge his own elect? Shall he not hear those who come 
with their wrongs, their burdens, their aching hearts, and 
give him no peace ? The kingdom of heaven sufifereth 
violence and the violent take it by force. 

V. Observe the sequel : "And this man went down to 
his house justified. ,, Justification is an act of God's free 
grace whereby he pardoneth all our sins and accepteth us 
as righteous in his sight. It means that his burden was 
lifted, his sins forgiven. In the International Exposition 
of 1862 there were two notable pictures. In one of them 
was represented a group of persons in the ante-room of a 
judgment hall. A woman sat wringing her hands in an 
agony of silent suspense; her little children stood by, 
sharing in the grief which they could not fathom. The 
aged grandmother with woe-begone face held a puling 
infant in her lap. The dog looked up in silent wonder. 
Through the door opening into the court-room might be 
seen a man in the prisoner's box. This was called, 
" Waiting for the Verdict" In the other the man stood 



1 86 "THE MORNING COMETH." 

with his arm about the woman and her head lay upon his 
breast. The children were tugging at their mother's 
skirts, the grandmother was holding up the baby to kiss 
its father's face, the dog was licking his hand. And this 
was called, "Acquitted." There is no joy in heaven or on 
earth like that which the sinner feels when his judgment is 
over and he is, for Jesus' sake, acquitted before God. 

This publican had come up to the temple with a 
mighty heartache ; his sins were heavy upon him. He 
went down to his house justified, singing now the song of 
salvation. There were rich men in Jerusalem, but not one 
who owned such treasure as he; there were king's favor- 
ites, but not one who felt so proud and happy as he. A 
long while he lay awake that night for joy, and in the 
morning when he arose and looked out towards the east, 
it was as if the dawn of heaven had burst upon him. 

This is a great prayer, " God be merciful to me a sin- 
ner." Friend, have you ever offered it ? You have said 
your prayers many a time ; you have uttered the form- 
ulas, you have read the litanies ; but have you ever out 
of the anguish of a surcharged heart cried out for the 
mercy of God ? When the learned Grotius was dying 
at Rostock, after a life of theological study and good 
works, he asked for this parable to be read, and his last 
word was, " That publican am I." 

In one of Joseph Cook's lectures he tells of a 
wealthy man of affairs who came to an evangelist 
with a desire to know " whether the gospel were true or 
not." "Are you sincere ?" said the evangelist. " I am," 
said he. " I will do anything to find out whether the 
gospel is true or not." " Let us kneel down," said the 
evangelist, "here and now; and do you say, from your 
heart, ' God be merciful to me a sinner.' " The merchant 



THE PUBLICAN'S PRAYER. 1 87 

did so, earnestly and genuinely, and there came to him a 
sudden and inexpressible peace. He arose from his knees 
saying, " This is a singular experience." And seeking 
his business partner, he related all and said, " Will you 
not try it?" His partner had been a skeptic, but he 
consented. They knelt down together and he offered 
the publican's prayer, and " he too arose smitten across 
the forehead with a light that falls out of those celestial 
spaces from which all souls come and into which all men 
haste." 

Get down, my friend, upon thy knees, if thou art an 
unforgiven sinner, and pray, " God be merciful to me." 
And as sure as God lives, the answer will come. "Ask, 
and it shall be given you ; seek, and ye shall find ; knock, 
and it shall be opened unto you." The mouth of the 
Lord hath spoken it. 



"THE MORNING COMETH. 



WASHINGTON'S RELIGION. 



" A good man leaveth an inheritance to his children's children." 

Prov. 13:22. 

It is a true saying, " The boy is father of the man." 
In a copy-book used by George Washington when a boy 
is this sentence : " Labor to preserve in your bosom that 
lingering spark of heavenly fire which men call con- 
science." Out of such fountains flow the streams of an 
earnest life. This boy was left fatherless at ten years of 
age; but he had a glorious mother, and he was not 
ashamed to be a mother's boy. He received through 
the kindness of a kinsman a midshipman's warrant in 
the British Navy. His arrangements were all made; 
the boat that was to carry him across the sea was at 
anchor in the stream ; but as he was setting out he saw 
tears in his mother's eyes. That was enough for him ; 
he turned back. 

It would be curious to speculate what the result would 
have been had he persisted in his purpose, for on such 
small events turns the history of the ages. 

Long afterwards, when Lafayette brought to Washing- 
ton's mother a glowing report of his brave deeds, she 
quietly answered, " I am not surprised ; George was 
always a good boy." 

At twenty- one, during the war with the French and 
Indians, he was chosen to bear a remonstrance to the com- 
mander of the enemies' forces. It was a delicate and dan- 



WASHINGTON'S RELIGION. 1 89 

gerous errand, involving a journey of six hundred miles 
over the mountains and across the wilderness. He made 
it successfully, fording streams, scaling mountains, and 
braving the hostilities of savage tribes. For this he was 
promoted to larger responsibilities. A vote of thanks 
being accorded him in the House of Burgesses, he arose 
to reply, but his tongue clave to the roof of his mouth. 
" Sit down, Mr. Washington," said the presiding officer, 
" your modesty alone can equal your valor." 

In 1774 he was elected to the first Congress, and was 
presently made Commander-in-chief of the Continental 
forces. Then came those eight years of travail-pain out 
of which was born our constitutional freedom. At the 
close of the war he gracefully resigned his sword, saying, 
" The chaplains of the army will render thanks to Al- 
mighty God." 

In 1787 he attended the Constitutional Convention and 
was unanimously chosen to preside over it. Soon after- 
wards he was elected the first President of the United 
States. On taking the Presidential chair he said, " No 
people can be bound to acknowledge and adore the invis- 
ible Hand which conducts the affairs of men, more than 
the people of the United States. Every step by which 
they have advanced to the character of an independent 
nation seems to have been distinguished by some token 
of provide?itial agency." And further on in the same ad- 
dress, " I shall take my present leave, but not without re- 
sorting once more to the bejiign Parent of the human race 
in humble supplication that, since he has been pleased to 
favor the American people with opportunities for deliber- 
ating in perfect tranquillity, and a disposition for deciding 
with unparalleled unanimity on a form of government for 
the securing of their Union and the advancement of their 



IQO "THE MORNING COMETH." 

happiness, so this divine blessing may be equally conspic- 
uous in the enlarged views, the temperate consultations, 
and the wise measures on which the success of this Gov- 
ernment must depend;" At the close of his second term 
as President he delivered a farewell address, in which he 
observed, " Of all the dispositions and habits which lead 
to political prosperity, religion and morality are indispen- 
sable supports. In vain would that man claim the tribute 
of patriotism who should labor to subvert these great pil- 
lars of human happiness, these firmest props of the duties 
of men and citizens. The mere politician, equally with 
the pious man, ought to respect and cherish them. A 
volume could not trace all their connections with private 
and public felicity. Let it simply be asked, Where is the 
security for property, for reputation, for life, if the sense 
of religious obligation desert the oaths which are the in- 
struments of investigation in courts of justice ? And let 
us with caution indulge the supposition that morality can 
be maintained without religion. Whatever can be con- 
ceded to the influence of refined education on minds of 
peculiar structure, reason and experience both forbid us 
to expect that national morality can prevail in exclusion of 
religious principle. It is substantially true that virtue or 
morality is a necessary spring of popular government. 
The rule indeed extends with more or less force to every 
species of free government. Who that is a sincere friend 
to it can look with indifference upon attempts to shake the 
foundation of the fabric ?" At the expiration of his second 
presidential term he retired to Mt. Vernon, where, as a 
simple American citizen, he passed the remainder of his 
days. He died full of years and honors. His last words 
were, " It is well." 

We are familiar with his civic virtues, not so familiar 



WASHINGTON'S RELIGION. 19I 

with his religious character. His success was due less 
to natural gifts or adventitious circumstances than to 
his devotion to religious principles. Let those who pay 
tribute to his character not forget that religion was at the 
bottom of it. 

I. He believed in God. He believed not merely in 
Universal Law or in a Pervading Force or a Something 
that maketh for righteousness, but in a personal God, in 
whose providence he had an abiding faith. In writing of 
Braddock's defeat he said, " By the all-powerful dispensa- 
tion of Providence I have been protected beyond all hu- 
man probability, for I had four bullets through my coat 
and two horses shot under me, yet I escaped unhurt 
while death was levelling my companions on every side 
of me." 

Nor did he trust Providence alone in his personal 
affairs. He believed that a gracious God was protecting 
the interests of his country. " A man must be worse than 
an infidel," said he at the close of the Revolutionary War, 
" who does not see the goodness of God or has not grati- 
tude enough to acknowledge it." On resigning his com- 
mission as Commander-in-chief of the Continental forces 
he said, " I consider it an indispensable duty to close this, 
my last official act, by commending the interests of our 
dearest country to the protection of Almighty God." 

II. He believed in our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. 
In his inmost heart he realized that he was a sinner, and 
he saw no possibility of pardon save at the cross. He 
therefore held to the vital doctrine of justification by faith. 

Nor was it only with respect to himself that he be- 
lieved in Christ. He held that our Government was 
established on the fundamental principles of the gospel. 
In these days the question is raised whether or no ours 



I92 "THE MORNING COMETH." 

is a Christian nation. He never doubted it. " It is my 
most earnest prayer," he says in an address to the gov- 
ernors of the several States, " that God would have you 
and the States over which you preside in his holy pro- 
tection ; that he would incline the hearts of the citizens to 
cultivate the spirit of subordination and obedience to 
government; and finally, that he would be most gra- 
ciously pleased to dispose us all to do justice, to love 
mercy, and to demean ourselves with that charity, humil- 
ity, and pacific temper of mind which were the character- 
istics of the divine Author of our blessed religion, with- 
out a humble imitation of whose example in these things 
we can never hope to be a happy nation." 

It is a curious fact that while the great majority of 
our American people are not committed to the Christian 
religion in any way whatsoever, yet they inadvertently 
betray their convictions in continuously casting their 
ballots for Christian men. From George Washington to 
Grover Cleveland, all our Presidents, with perhaps one 
exception only, have been in sympathy with the funda- 
mentals of the Christian faith. Of the eight candidates 
for President and Vice-President at the recent election, 
every one was a professed believer in the gospel of 
Christ. The people thus, whatever their open avowal 
may be, admit that in their judgment the country is safe 
only in Christian hands. 

III. He was a member of the Christian church. It is 
not an uncommon thing to find men in the councils of 
the nation who privately admit their belief in the gospel 
while yet declining, for prudential or other reasons, to 
make confession of it. No such considerations weighed 
with Washington. He was a vestryman in the Episco- 
palian church at Alexandria. His pastor, Rev. Lee 



WASHINGTON'S RELIGION. 193 

Massy, said, " I never knew so constant an attendant on 
church as he, and his behavior in the house of God was 
ever so deeply reverent that it produced the happiest 
effects. " While a churchman, however, he was a broad 
Christian man. At the time when the army was encamped 
at Morristown, learning of an approaching Communion 
in the Presbyterian church, he asked if he might be per- 
mitted to participate. The answer was substantially this, 
" We do not propose to celebrate a Presbyterian Supper 
nor yet an Episcopalian Supper, but the Supper of the 
Lord. Come and welcome, if you love Him." He was 
there. The whole world knows that any narrower inter- 
pretation of the Holy Communion than this is a shame 
and a reproach not merely to Christian fellowship but to 
sanctified common sense. It is preposterous to build 
such hedges around the sacred table as that persons 
shall be excluded who will yet be made welcome at the 
Marriage Supper of the Lamb. 

IV. He held to the integrity of the Bible as the Word 
of God. He was wont to refer to it as " the pure and 
benignant light of revelation." He loved it ; he searched 
it as for hidden treasure. He believed that he found in 
it the riches of spiritual life. 

In those times there was no controversy as to the 
inerrancy of the Scriptures. There were only two par- 
ties in the world. On the one hand there were unbeliev- 
ers who rejected the Bible, holding that it was a human 
composition, a splendid landmark of literature, contain- 
ing some wonderful maxims and profound truths, but 
still not absolutely true nor worthy to be called, in any 
honest sense, the veritable Word of God. On the other 
hand, all of Christ's people received the Scriptures in 
good faith, as their infallible rule of faith and practice. 
13 



194 "THE MORNING COMETH." 

They held that whatever numerical or literary errors 
there might be in its various versions, it was, as it left 
the hands of the holy men who wrote by inspiration, the 
absolutely true and inerrant Word of God. As yet schol- 
ars had not learned to juggle with words. " Infallible " 
meant infallible in those days. The two parties, believers 
and unbelievers, stood squarely divided along the lines 
of Scriptural truth. It was never dreamed in those days 
that it would be possible for a man to belong to both 
parties at once. It was left to be discovered more 
recently that a man may reject the substantial truth of 
Scripture and still receive it as infallible; that he may 
regard it as largely false and still the very Word of 
God. 

On one occasion the nephew of Washington, coming 
suddenly into his room, found him on his knees with an 
open Bible before him. If we were accustomed in these 
times to read our Bible on our knees we would love it 
more devotedly and find fewer faults in it. The sin of 
our time is irreverence. Fools rush in where angels fear 
to tread. 

V. Washington believed in the sanctity of the Sab- 
bath. He required it to be observed by his fellow-officers 
as well as by the rank and file of his army. And during 
his chief-magistracy the presidential home was secluded 
on the Lord's day. In this particular he was so scrupu- 
lous that we may well believe he was regarded as a Sab- 
batic bigot and fanatic. 

Times have changed, you say, and men are more 
liberal now. Ay, times have changed, but the fundamen- 
tal principles of truth and morality abide for ever. The 
sanction of Sabbath rest is in these words, " For in six 
days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all 



WASHINGTON'S RELIGION. 195 

that in them is, and rested the seventh day ; wherefore the 
Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it." The first 
word of the Sabbath law is, "Remember." One of the 
things to remember is that God established the Sabbath in 
his own Sabbatic rest, and the law can obviously never 
be abrogated until it be proved that God did not rest 
on the seventh day. And another thing to be remem- 
bered in this connection is that no nation ever disre- 
garded the Sabbath law and lived. The paths of history 
are marked with the ruins of nations that ran thus upon 
the bosses of the shield of God. 

VI. Washington was a praying man. On his leav- 
ing home in early boyhood his mother said, " My son, 
never neglect the duty of secret prayer." Nor did he. 
It was his custom to rise at 4 A. M. for devotions. It is 
known to every one how a certain Quaker while walking 
along a creek near Valley Forge, hearing a voice from a 
dense thicket, pushed his way through and found Wash- 
ington upon his knees. His face was uplifted and suf- 
fused with tears. At this time the Continental cause was 
at the last extremity. The troops were barefoot and 
hungry, the treasury depleted, and all hearts sick with 
hope deferred. The Commander-in-chief was making a 
desperate plea to God for the triumph of right and free- 
dom. A man of prayer is ever a man of power. The 
great leaders in the historic struggles for human rights 
have been praying men, such as Cromwell, the Prince of 
Orange, and Gustavus Adolphus, who entered battle with 
a Pater Noster on his lips. 

VII. The things which Washington believed he also 
exemplified in his daily life. The fruits of the Spirit, 
love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, 
faith, were witnessed in his walk and conversation. The 



I9 6 '"THE MORNING COMETH." 

words which the lad had written in the copy-book, " La- 
bor to preserve in your bosom that lingering spark of 
heavenly fire which men call conscience," were as his 
guiding star. His life was marked by an unchallenged 
probity. It is said that the flour that was manufactured 
at Mt. Vernon bearing the Washington mark was passed 
without the customary inspection in West Indian ports. 
The name of Washington was voucher for the genuine- 
ness of whatever bore it. He had learned the Master's 
word, Let your light so shine before men that they may 
see your good works and glorify God. 

It may be profitable in closing this monograph on the 
character of the Father of his Country, to call attention to 
a startling parallel. The cause of freedom was fought out 
almost contemporaneously in America and France. When 
the hour struck in our country the man was forthcom- 
ing — Washington, who thoroughly believed in God. 
When the hour struck in France the man also was forth- 
coming — Napoleon, who followed his star of destiny. 
While our people were nerving themselves in prayer and 
consecration for the approaching struggle, the mobs were 
gathering in the streets of Paris ; they were writing " Lib- 
erty, fraternity, equality " across the dead walls and on 
the doors of Notre Dame. The Continental Congress was 
opened with prayer, while in the Corps Legislatif a reso- 
lution was offered and passed, " There is no God." The 
wives and children of the colonies, while their husbands 
and fathers were enduring the rigors of war, bore hunger 
and privation with prayerful patience. The women of 
France marched out to Versailles and interrupted the 
National Assembly there, crying, " This is no question of 
politics; this is a question of bread." While the fabric of 
constitutional freedom was rising on this side of the sea, 



WASHINGTON'S RELIGION. 197 

the sharp blade of the guillotine on the other was decapi- 
tating the bravest and noblest of France. And when our 
nation was rejoicing in the ultimate success of its glorious 
struggle for human rights and giving praises to God, the 
disappointed people of France were in unspeakable de- 
spair because their hopes were extinguished and their ill- 
founded temple of freedom had gone down in fire and 
blood. So true is it that the nation that will not serve 
God shall perish. Of men and nations alike Jehovah 
hath said, " If ye seek me I will be found of you; if ye 
forsake me I will cast you off." 

A last word. In commemorating the virtues of Wash- 
ington do we reflect that we pay involuntary homage to 
his religion ? If he was right, then those who revere him 
and yet reject his Christian principles are surely wrong. 
His life was moulded by his faith. So that unless our 
reverence for him is merely sentimental, we pay tribute, 
whether by intention or otherwise, to the God in whom he 
believed, the Saviour in whom he trusted, the Bible in 
which he had implicit confidence, the church whose in- 
terests he espoused, the 'Sabbath which he scrupulously 
observed, the habit of prayer which he regarded as the 
bond of union between heaven and earth, and all those 
Christian graces which, making up a perfect character, 
find their only realization in the divine Son of Man. Let 
us hear then the conclusion of the whole matter : — Can 
we say it ? — His God shall be our God for ever and ever ! 



I9 8 "THE MORNING COMETH. 



THE BIBLE BEING DISPOSED OF, 
WHAT THEN? 



" And it came to pass when Jehudi had read three or four leaves, he 
cut it with the penknife, and cast it into the fire that was on the 
hearth, until all the roll was consumed in the fire that was on 
the hearth." J er. 36:23. 

The Ten Commandments, written on two tables of 
stone, which Moses received in the flaming mountain, were 
kept in the Ark of the Covenant. They formed the nu- 
cleus of the Canon of Scripture. As time passed, the five 
books of Moses were added, then the Prophets and the 
Hagiographa, or sacred poems. This body of inspired 
writings was known as the Book of the Law. 

The Book of the Law was not merely a religious sym- 
bol, it was the Constitution of the Jewish Theocracy. 
There should have been, therefore, a double interest in 
preserving it. At times, however, it was almost ignored. 
In the reign of the wicked kings, when altars were raised 
everywhere to Baal and Astarte, the inspired scroll was 
lost sight of. On one occasion, as certain of the attendants 
of the temple were rummaging through a lumber-room, 
they came upon a dust-covered scroll. They opened it 
and were amazed by what they saw. It was the forgotten 
Book of the Law. Its discovery was reported to the king, 
Josiah. A new impulse was thereby given to his half- 
formed purpose of reforming the nation. The high places 
were thrown down, the idols shattered, the Passover was 



THE BIBLE DISPOSED OF, WHAT THEN? 199 

restored. And so long as Josiah reigned, worship was 
rendered to the true God. 

The reformation was but temporary, however; it was 
not the break of a better day, but the fitful glow of northern 
lights. At Josiah's death the darkness deepened, the 
nation went hastening to its ruin. From the south came 
the threatenings of Egypt ; in the east the heavy footfall 
of the Assyrian host began to be heard ; meanwhile the 
nation was torn asunder by two rival parties. The party 
of the princes was substantially pagan, the party of the 
priests nominally true to Jehovah, but in fact given over 
to outward ceremonial and superstition of the basest sort. 
Under the temple were chambers of imagery, from its 
eastern porch worship was paid to the rising sun. When 
Jehoiakim came to the throne his empire was a mere de- 
pendency, and he a vassal of Egypt. 

While these things were transpiring the voice of the 
prophet Jeremiah was heard in earnest admonition. He 
uttered faithful warnings in the temple courts and at the 
palace doors; he called upon ruler and people to heed the 
Book of the Law. He was hated and cursed for his pains. 
On the edge of Hinnom he held aloft an earthenware ves- 
sel, dashed it upon the rocks below, crying, " So shall the 
Great Potter shiver Jerusalem to pieces !" He was seized 
and cast into prison. 

In prison he had one faithful friend, the scribe Baruch, to 
whom were committed the prophecies of those last fateful 
years. A new canonical book was thus added to the Book 
of the Law. It was determined that this should be publicly 
read. On a December day, at the gate of the temple, the 
writings were recited by Baruch in the presence of the mul- 
titude. He was summoned to appear at the court to read 
this Book of the Law. It struck terror to the hearts of his 



200 "THE MORNING COMETH." 

hearers. They told the king. " Bring the scroll/' said he. 
It was brought by Jehudi, one of his courtiers, who began 
to read it. As he proceeded the king was more and more 
offended by the frank warnings of the book. " I like not 
that," he said ; " cut it out." And again, " I like not that ; 
cut it out." And so, until Jehudi's penknife had cruelly 
mutilated the parchment. At length, losing all patience 
with the faithful book, the king cried, " Cast it into the 
fire !" A brazier was burning near by ; the parchment was 
thrown in and burned up. Was Jehoiakim relieved? 
No doubt. The faithful book was gone, but alas, its 
woes remained and the doom of the nation hastened 
on! 

We have that Book of the Law. It is our infallible 
rule of faith and practice. But the penknife of destructive 
criticism is at work upon it. A considerable portion of 
every book which has passed under review is being thrown 
out because it does not comport with the prejudgments of 
the so-called Biblical experts. And so far as the radical 
scholars of Germany and Oxford are concerned, the 
Scriptures are substantially thrown into the fire. It 
is not my purpose, however, to enter into the current 
controversy now. There is a party to this controversy 
which has not been recognized thus far. A party of out- 
siders there is who stand rubbing their hands and cry- 
ing, Aha ! aha ! while the Book of the Law is being mu- 
tilated and burned up. 

Is it not a curious thing that all the unbelievers of 
every sort should be on one side in this controversy? 
There is not an infidel circle in the world which does not 
rejoice at the suggestion that the Bible is not true. The 
work of destructive criticism commends itself to all the 
"lewd fellows of the baser sort." All dram-sellers and 



THE BIBLE DISPOSED OF, WHAT THEN ? 201 

gamblers and disreputables of all kinds whatsoever are 
glad to be assured that inroads are being made upon the 
trustworthiness of Holy Writ. Why should the ungodly 
hate the Bible ? Why should they make merry at the 
thought of having it put away ? Because the carnal mind 
is enmity against God. They are offended by the doc- 
trines and put to an open shame by the moral precepts of 
this Book of the Law. 

It will be worth while to inquire, however, wherein the 
ungodly would be bettered if the Bible were burned up. 
Let us suppose that all the present assaults upon the ve- 
racity of the Scriptures are to be successful. What then ? 
Were the Bible proved to be quite unworthy of confidence, 
were it shown to be dotted everywhere with error as thick 
as a leper with his loathsome scales, what advantage would 
it be to godless men ? 

I. God would still remain. The Bible does not make 
God ; it does not even demonstrate the being of God. It 
assumes him. Its opening words are, " In the beginning 
God created." 

It takes God for granted because the world in- 
tuitively believes in him. The simplest argument in all 
the world is that which phrases itself thus : Design sup- 
poses a designer. Were I to say that John Milton made 
" Paradise Lost" by jumbling letters in a bag and tossing 
them forth, all reasonable men would laugh at me; but 
this would be no more preposterous than is the allegation 
that our universe is a fortuitous concourse of atoms. All 
men know that back of law is the Lawgiver, back of order 
the Arranger, back of design an Infinite Contriver. 

But while the world would retain its belief in God, it 
would, in the absence of the Scriptures, know nothing of 
his Providence or of his Fatherhood. It could not dis- 



202 "THE MORNING COMETH. 

cern his " milder face." Men would still, however, be 
Theists, sensible of an all-pervading Power and ever utter- 
ing the sentiment which fills the pagan breast, " It is a 
fearful thing to fall into the hands of God." 

II. The sense of sin would remain. The Bible is not 
responsible for the sense of sin. It did not make man, it 
did not turn him aside from the path of virtue; it simply 
takes him as it finds him. 

If there were no Bible, our consciences would still 
speak to us. When Prof. Webster was lying in prison 
awaiting his doom he made formal complaint that he was 
affronted by his keepers, who shouted at him, " Oh, you 
bloody man !" and by his fellow-prisoners, who pounded 
on the walls of his cell, shouting, " Oh, you bloody man !" 
A watch was set, but no voice was heard ; it was his guilty 
conscience that was crying out against him. It is the 
voice of conscience that drives the pagan nations to their 
knees and kindles the fires beneath their altars. It needs 
no heavenly voice to convince us that we have sinned and 
that sin carries with it a death-sentence. It is not the 
Bible that gives us Ixion on the wheel, or Sisyphus vainly 
rolling the stone up the mountain-side, or Tantalus up to 
his lips in the ever-receding waters. No, in any case con- 
science would remain; but in the absence of revelation we 
should know no remedy for its sting. The only balm in 
Gilead is the blood of Jesus. It alone has power to de- 
liver from sin. 

A notable passage in Paul's Epistle to the Galatians 
tells us that we are all " concluded under sin." The new 
version reads, " shut up under sin." But in either case 
the underlying thought is that of imprisonment. There 
is no difference; we are all behind the dungeon bars. 
There are other religions which come and sing sweetly 



THE BIBLE DISPOSED OF, WHAT THEN? 203 

under the windows ; there are other philosophies which 
set forth charming ethical truths; but there is only one 
gospel which draws the bolts and springs back the mighty- 
doors and bids us come out and breathe the air of heaven 
and dwell in the glorious liberty of the children of God. 

III. Were the Bible destroyed, our sense of duty would 
still remain. The word " duty " means something due or 
owed. This sense of dueness or obligation which is ex- 
pressed in the great word "ought" is native to the human 
soul. 

The moral law is set forth in the Scriptures in the Dec- 
alogue and the Sermon on the Mount. The Decalogue, 
however, was written in the human constitution long before 
it found expression in Scripture. It is interwoven with 
the nerves and sinews of the race. The Sermon on the 
Mount is simply a broad and glorious exposition of the 
Decalogue. There is nothing new or original here. We 
are reminded that the Golden Rule itself did not originate 
with Christ. The ethical system of the Bible is merely an 
authoritative statement of certain laws which are written 
in the soul of man. God here places his imprimatur on 
those otherwise anonymous precepts which the whole 
world recognizes as right. So, were the Bible to vanish, 
the moral distinctions would remain and a man would 
know his duty while, alas, ever sensible of not doing it. 

The peace of Herod Antipas was greatly troubled by 
John the Baptist, who kept insisting that he should put 
away Mariamne. " It is not lawful for thee to have her," 
said the Prophet of the Wilderness ; " Put her away, attend 
to the serious tasks of thy kingdom, meet the great obli- 
gations of thy royal life 1" To drown this voice of disap- 
proval he doomed the prophet to the black fortress and 
at length slew him. The head of John the Baptist was 



204 "THE MORNING COMETH." 

brought in on a charger. He looked on the stern features 
and doubtless said within himself, " I shall hear no more 
of thy fierce reproaches." But the dim eyes of the weird 
prophet looked at him from every nook and cranny and 
pierced his soul in the watches of the night. And when a 
new prophet arose and went about preaching righteous- 
ness, Herod cried, " It is John the Baptist risen from the 
dead !" So let this Bible, our divine monitor of duty, be 
destroyed and still its voice will find us. 

The one thing in this connection which the world 
would most grievously miss would be the portrait of the 
great Right-Doer. Man would still struggle in the ranks 
of noble effort, but the Captain would be dead. In all 
the world there would be then no living exemplification 
of duty, no perfect Man, no Christ to stand on the heights 
above, inspiring, beckoning, calling, " Follow Me." And 
without Christ the thought of perfection would be mere 
fancy ; he is the only dikaios. We should philosophize 
about virtue and manhood and character, but never see 
an exemplification of it. Thus it is written, " The whole 
world groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now, 
waiting for the manifestation of the sons of God." This 
longing is, without Christ, unsatisfied. God still look- 
eth down from heaven to see, and behold ! there is none 
that doeth righteousness, no, not one. 

IV. The Bible go?te, death would still remain; death — 
a?id judgment following after. The Bible is not respon- 
sible for death. 

It needs no revelation from on high to tell us that, as 
Abd-el-Kader says, "the black camel kneels at our gate." 
That admonition is written on the grave-stones that line 
the journey of our life. 



THE BIBLE DISPOSED OF, WHAT THEN? 20$ 

"The air is full of farewells to the dying 
And mournings for the dead." 

But without the Scriptures we should have no hope of 
triumph over death. There would be no story of the 
great triumph which was wrought for us in Joseph's gar- 
den. At twilight the bearers brought the lifeless body 
of Jesus and with tears and lamentations laid it away in 
the new-made sepulchre. A stone was rolled before it, 
the seal of the Roman Empire was placed upon it, and a 
guard was stationed. And then the King of Terrors 
came and walked up and down before the grave. " I 
have conquered the King of Life," he murmured. " I 
have him here and I will hold him." The night wore on, 
and still the grim patrol walked to and fro. " I have 
conquered all," he said. " Adam — I slew him. Abraham, 
called the Friend of God — I slew him. Noah, whom the 
flood spared — I slew him. Moses went up into a moun- 
tain alone, and I met and slew him there. Methuse- 
lah — they thought I had forgotten him; but though he 
lived nine hundred and sixty-nine years, yet must his 
biographers add, ' He died.' I slew them all, and behold, 
the Prince of Life lies yonder. I have Him and will keep 
him !" But in the darkness the blood of the slain was 
quickened, the flesh grew warm ; the cerements stirred ; 
the wounded hand was lifted, loosed the napkin from 
about the pale face and laid it away, was lifted again as 
though a sceptre were within it, and thereat the stone 
rolled from the grave's mouth. The King of Terrors 
fled like a frightened spectre at daybreak, and the King 
of Life came forth. " Now is Christ risen from the dead 
and become the first-fruits of them that slept." So is 
come to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed 
up in victory! O Death, where is thy sting? O Grave, 



200 "THE MORNING COMETH." 

where is thy victory ? The sting of death is sin and the 
strength of sin is the law ; but thanks be to God which 
giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ !" 

V. The dream of immortality would still remain. 
This is quite independent of Scripture. The Greeks put 
an obolus upon the tongue of the dead to pay their fer- 
riage across the Styx because there might be a happy 
land beyond. The Indian chief was buried with his 
bows and arrows at his side, because, if there should by 
chance be a happy hunting-ground, he would need them 
there. Thus immortality has always been a fond dream — 
a dream only. When Cicero lighted the lamp in the 
grave of his daughter it was with the thought that possi- 
bly her life, though extinguished for a time, might be 
rekindled. When Socrates put the cup of hemlock to 
his lips, he said, " I go ; whether to perish or to live 
again I know not." The old fable of the Phoenix ex- 
pressed the fondest of pagan hopes. 

No, no, we should not lose the dream but we should 
lose the certainty, for in the gospel life and immortality 
are brought to light. The twilight vanishes, the dream 
becomes a splendid reality. Just yonder through the 
mists of the river we behold the better country, even an 
heavenly, 

"Sweet fields beyond the swelling flood, 
All drest in living green." 

Just yonder where the clouds had obscured the mountains 
we observe the Holy City, New Jerusalem. " Its twelve 
gates were twelve pearls, every several gate was one 
pearl, and the street of the city was pure gold, as it were 
transparent glass." It is a city that hath foundations, 
whose builder and maker is God. Still yonder, through 
the veil rent in the midst, we behold our Father's 



THE BIBLE DISPOSED OF, WHAT THEN? 20y 

house, " Home, sweet Home." And the saints perfected 
are drawing near and at the gateway are clasping hands 
with loved ones who were " lost a while." Oh glorious 
day of knitting severed friendships up ! 

The dream of immortality would linger with us, but 
the " better country," the " city that hath foundations," 
the " Father's house" would disappear within the dim- 
ness of the morning mist. 

Thus all the bald and barren facts which we hold as 
spiritual intuitions would still abide were the Scriptures 
burned up— God, sin, duty, death, immortality— but all 
these truths would lose their warmth and helpfulness, like 
stars glowing in the distance, but cold and unhelpful for 
ever. Let those who have thoughtlessly stood by the 
brazier, sympathizing with the enemies of Holy Writ, 
pause and reflect upon the loss which even they would 
sustain were the folds of the great curtain, which God has 
lifted, to close again upon us. 

The sun is a great way off; it is so far distant as to 
be of little particular interest to most of us, a round ball 
far yonder in space, some millions of miles, looking not 
larger than a brazen shield or a dinner-plate ; nor is it a 
perfect orb. The maculae can be seen upon it with an un- 
aided eye. And it resists an intrusive gaze. What care 
we then for the sun ? But quench it — lo, the light is gone 
out of the diamond, the sparkle from the brook, and 
beauty from the whole earth ; the grass has withered, the 
birds have ceased their singing, the planets themselves 
have faded out. Our world would still be here or some- 
where, rolling round an eccentric orb in silence, utter 
darkness, and eternal solitude, an uninhabited and voice- 
ruin. 

The Bible is our noonday sun. Its glories are far 



203 "THE MORNING COMETH." 

away from the multitude who will not receive it. There 
are mysteries, vast and incomprehensible here ; but burn 
the book, or what is the same, let the world lose its confi- 
dence in it, and all that makes life worth living goes from 
us. Our civil and ecclesiastical freedom, the sanctions of 
home and social life, hope, triumphant faith — all are gone. 
A sunless world is no more desolate than a Bibleless 
world would be. 

But the Bible is in no danger ; it has come to stay ; 
it will glorify life and illuminate the valley of death until 
the last penitent sinner has gone through heaven's gate. 
The burning of the Scriptures is an old story. All along 
the path of history are bonfires of the Book, and still 
it lives. Votlaire said that he would pass through the 
forest of the Scriptures and girdle all its trees so that 
in a hundred years Christianity would be only a van- 
ishing memory. The hundred years have expired; 
Voltaire is gone, and "none so poor to do him rever- 
ence," but Christianity is still here and the trees of the 
Lord are full of sap. The brazier of Jehoiakim is a 
golden altar, the fumes of which, like frankincense, have 
gone through all the earth. The wrath of hostile criti- 
cism in seeking to destroy the life of the Scriptures has 
but crushed its spices, sending forth their fragrance to 
the skies. The truth is indestructible. All flesh is as grass, 
and the glory of man as the flower of the field that with- 
ereth. The grass withereth, the flower fadeth, but the 
Word of our God shall stand for ever. 



THE LOST NAME. 



THE LOST NAME. 



209 



" And God spake unto Moses, and said unto him, I am Jehovah ; 
and I appeared unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob, by 
the name of God Almighty, but by my name JEHOVAH was 
I not known to them. And I have also established my cove- 
nant with them, to give them the land of Canaan, the land of 
their pilgrimage, wherein they were strangers. And I have 
also heard the groaning of the children of Israel, whom the 
Egyptians keep in bondage ; and I have remembered my 
covenant. Wherefore say unto the children of Israel, I am 
Jehovah, and I will bring you out from under the burdens of 
the Egyptians, and I w T ill rid you out of their bondage, and I 
will redeem you with a stretched out arm and with great 
judgments: and I will take you to me for a people, and I will 
be to you a God: and ye shall know that I am Jehovah your 
God, which bringeth you out from under the burdens of the 
Egyptians. And I will bring you in unto the land concerning 
the which I did swear to give it to Abraham, to Isaac, and to 
Jacob; and I will give it you for a heritage: I am Jehovah.'* 
Exod. 6:2-8. (New Version.) 

It is an interesting fact that up to the time here 
referred to God was practically nameless. The titles 
which were applied to him had reference to his essential 
nature and attributes. (1.) El, which meant power, or in 
the plural form, Elohim, powers, was a general term 
corresponding to the idea which some learned people 
now entertain of Deity when they speak of him as Law, 
Force, All-pervading Energy, and the like. (2.) Adonai, 
which meant Lord or Master, had reference to the di- 
vine mastery and to that alone. Of such a God David 
14 



2IO "THE MORNING COMETH." 

Strauss said, " In the enormous machine of the universe, 
amid the incessant hiss and whirr of its jagged iron wheels 
and the deafening crash of its stamps and hammers, I find 
myself a helpless and defenceless man, not sure for a 
moment that the wheels may not seize and rend me or 
the hammers crush me into powder." (3.) Jehovah. A 
term used less frequently than the others, and having 
respect to the divine essence. It was, in no sense, as yet, 
a name for God. 

The time had come when a name must be given 
him. The family of Abraham, chosen to keep the ora- 
cles and to transmit the forms of true worship to coming 
ages, had multiplied into a vast horde of people who 
were now bond-slaves in Egypt. God purposed that 
they should be delivered out of bondage and developed 
into a nation which should establish truth and righteous- 
ness on the earth. To this end he spake out of the burn- 
ing bush to Moses : " I will send thee unto Pharaoh, that 
thou mayest bring forth my people out of Egypt." It 
was natural for Moses to ask for credentials. " When I 
come unto the children of Israel," said he, "and they 
shall ask, What is the name of the God that hath sent 
you? what shall I say?" And God said, " I AM THAT 
I AM ; thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, 
I AM hath sent me unto you." " This is my name for 
ever and this is my memorial unto all generations." The 
name here appropriated by him, I AM THAT I AM, is 
identical with Jehovah. It is spoken of as a new name. 
" I appeared unto thy fathers by the name of God Al- 
mighty, but by my name Jehovah was I not known unto 
them." The name Jehovah had been known, but only 
now was adopted as the distinctive name of the true God. 
So the rainbow had always been in the heavens, but at 



THE LOST NAME. 211 

the subsidence of the flood it was made the token of a 
divine covenant, as the Lord said, ' I do set my bow in 
the clouds, and it shall be for a token of the covenant 
between me and thee." A new and blessed significance 
was put upon it. 

This mysterious name was used with the utmost rev- 
erence. As time passed a superstitious value was attached 
to it, insomuch that it became a word to juggle with. At 
length it was wholly ruled out of common use. To utter 
it became a sin. It was called the separated name, the 
incommunicable name. The High Priest alone was now 
permitted to pronounce it once a year on the great Day 
of Atonement when he entered the Holiest of All. When 
written, the four consonants were alone used, whence it 
was called the tetragrammaton. This undue reverence 
found its excuse in a misinterpretation of Leviticus 24 : 16, 
" He that blasphemeth the name of Jehovah shall surely 
be put to death." At length the pronunciation oi the 
name was wholly lost. Tradition says that the secret 
perished with Simeon the Just. At this moment there is 
no living man who can declare with authority how the 
word should be spoken. The judgment of scholars is 
divided as to whether it should be Yahveh, Yehveh, 
Jahvohy or Jehovah, The modern Jews substitute the 
name Adonai for it. 

What is the meaning of this lost name of God ? 

I. Its fundamental thought is that of Life, It was de- 
rived from the verb to be. It tells us that God is; i. e., 
that he is not a mere dream or a fancy, but a veritable 
fact. God lives ; he is not as Pantheism paints him, an 
all-pervading essence, but a self-conscious personality. 
God is self-existent ; not like the pagan gods who were 
derived from trees or mountains or foam of the sea. 



212 "THE MORNING COMETH." 

" He sits on no precarious throne, 
Nor borrows leave to be." 

God is the source and fountain of life. All the vital- 
ity of the universe, physical as well as spiritual, is derived 
from him. A scientist may wire and clamp together the 
bones of a mastodon, but all the scientists of the world can- 
not breathe into that form the breath of life. It is an ax- 
iom of science that " life proceeds from life and from noth- 
ing else." If man could create a living germ, a bacillus, 
an animalcule, we might perhaps dispense with God. But 
as matters now stand, all living things must derive their 
being from the living God. 

II. The name suggests the divine attribute of Eter- 
nity. God liveth for ever. He is the High and Holy One 
that inhabiteth eternity. The temple of King Solomon 
was " exceeding magnifical," with gold of Sheba, cedars of 
Lebanon, and ivory from Ethiopia ; but what of the great 
temple wherein God dwelleth? Infinitude is its dome; 
the immeasurable aeons are the buttresses of its walls. 

In distinction from the endless existence of man, His 
life is sempiternal, i. e., he never began to be and he will 
never cease to be — he is without beginning or end of 
days. 

Let the mind wander back along the history of the 
nations, past the beginning of human life, through the 
dense steaming forests of the carboniferous era, past chaos, 
past the primal nebulae and the primordial germ, and in 
the infinite silence and solitude it confronts God. 

The oldest scrap of literature in existence is probably 
the ninetieth Psalm. It was written by Moses at the end 
of his eventful life. He stood amid the summits of the 
everlasting mountains and looked backward over the 
desert pilgrimage. The way was lined on every side 



THE LOST NAME. 21 3 

with graves ; the venerable heads of the tribes of Israel 
had one by one paid the debt of nature. The thought of 
the divine eternity came over him with irresistible force 
and he sang, 

" Jehovah, thou hast been our dwelling-place 
In all generations. 

Before the mountains were brought forth, 
Or ever thou hadst formed the earth and the world, 
Even from everlasting to everlasting, 
Thou art God." 

III. In this name there is reference to the divine im- 
mutability y as if God said, I am that I was and will be. 
He is the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever. 

There is, however, a vast difference between im- 
mutability and immobility. He is not unchangeable in 
any such sense as that he cannot be moved. The Egyp- 
tians carved upon the over-towering cliffs an image of 
Ammon-Ra, a blank- faced, immovable, stony-hearted god. 
The Pharaohs bowed before it. Processions of slaves 
prostrated themselves and cried, Oh hear and deliver us ! 
The mothers of old Egypt brought their burdened hearts 
and said their prayers here. But there was no voice nor 
answer nor any that regarded. We too call our God 
the Rock of Ages, but he is a prayer-hearing and a prayer- 
answering God. Any philosophy of the decrees which 
shuts out the possibility of the adjustment of the divine 
mercy to human appeal must be false. Eyes are not eyes 
if they cannot look down in compassion upon the suppli- 
ant ; a heart is not a heart unless it can throb with love ; 
and hands are not hands unless they can be stretched 
forth to help. 

There is one " difficulty " in the Scriptures for which 
we may justly give thanks ; it is that which arises from 



214 "THE MORNING COMETH." 

the statement that " God repenteth." Not once, but over 
and over again, he is said to repent. He looked down 
upon the children of Israel while they danced in their mad 
orgies around the golden calf and was moved with anger ; 
but Moses kneeled before him crying, "Oh this people have 
sinned a great sin, yet now, if thou wilt forgive them — and 
if not, blot me, I pray thee, out of thy book." And it is 
written, The Lord repented of the evil which he had 
thought to do unto his people. Thus it appears that 
whatever the divine immutability may be, it is not immo- 
bility ; it does not prevent his having mercy upon the 
children of men. 

He is immutable, however, in his nature and charac- 
ter. The divine essence can be never more nor less. 
He is the same in power as when he called out of nothing 
the things that are ; the same in wisdom as when 
in the beginning, he adjusted all things to their uses; 
the same in justice as when he said, "The soul that 
sinneth, it shall die;" the same in mercy as when he 
sent his only-begotten and well-beloved Son to bear the 
shame and suffering of the children of men ; the same in 
truth as when he said that he that believeth in the Son 
hath everlasting life. 

God is the Father of Lights. The sun rises and sets, 
the moon has its phases, the stars are eclipsed and all the 
bodies of the heavens cast a shadow by their turning. 
With God, however, there is no variableness, neither 
shadow of turning. 

IV. The name, declares, also, the progressive mani- 
festation of God in history. It might be rendered, and is 
indeed so rendered by some Hebrew scholars, " I am what 
I shall show myself to be," or " I will show what I am." 

God is a constant factor in history. But theology is 



THE LOST NAME. 21$ 

progressive ; we know more of God to-day than we did 
yesterday. He is the Spirit in the wheels of human 
affairs, and he makes himself known more and more, like 
the sun coming from behind a cloud. 

In the Old Economy he was seen in dim outlines, in 
the Shechinah, in theophanies, in dreams and visions of 
the night. There were voices out of the darkness ; or a 
man might hide in the cleft of the rock and hear the rust- 
ling of God's garment as he passed by. 

Then came the period of the Incarnation, a brief span 
of thirty years, when God walked among men. It was 
not best, however, that he should so abide. " It is ex- 
pedient," he said, " that I go away." The best concep- 
tion of Deity was not in knowing even Jesus after the 
flesh. 

So came the dispensation of the Spirit in which we 
live. The Spirit of the Infinite One is abroad everywhere 
and working among men. History is but the record of 
his consummate plan for the restitution of all things. He 
is building up on earth the kingdom of truth and right- 
eousness. He is continually showing himself in the oper- 
ations of his providence and grace. It is our grave mis- 
fortune if we cannot see or hear him. Berkeley said, " I 
am but a fly on the wheel of the King's chariot." A hu- 
man life is at the best but one revolution of that wheel. 
The greatest of mortal men is but an ephemera. Napo- 
leon buzzed and stung for a brief season ; the wheel rolled 
around, and yonder he lies in his porphyry coffin under the 
dome of the Invalides, crushed into dust ; but the chariot 
rolls on. Oh that our eyes might be opened to see, our 
ears unstopped to hear, how God advances through the 
years ! 

V. Jehovah was the name by which God was pleased 



2l6 "THE MORNING COMETH." 

to make himself known as distinctively the God of Israel. 
It was the name affixed to his covenant; it was the name 
by which he certified to his truth, " As I live, saith the 
Lord." He has sworn by himself because there was no 
greater. 

In the Old Testament we note the presence of a strange 
figure, known as the Angel of the Covenant. It was he who 
promised after the eating of the forbidden fruit that the 
fruit of woman should bruise the serpent's head. It was 
he who encouraged Abraham on his long journey by 
the banks of the Euphrates to the land of promise, 
pointing to the stars of heaven and saying, " So shall thy 
seed be." He appeared to Isaiah in the guise of the 
Man of sorrows, acquainted with grief, lifting his pierced 
hands and promising redemption to penitent souls. He 
came to the prophets with assurances that the night of 
Egyptian darkness was to be succeeded by a glorious 
dawn. But for a while there was an end of dreams and 
visions. The Angel of the Covenant came no more. The 
lights in the sanctuary were extinguished, the Old Testa- 
ment was closed, and that awful night of four hundred 
years which intervened between the Old and the New 
Economy closed in. 

The Daybreak was announced by the song of the an- 
gels on the Judaean hillsides, " Glory to God in the high- 
est, peace on earth, good-will to men !" The Christ-child 
lay in the manger. Behold the Messenger of the Cove- 
nant was come back to dwell among men. This was his 
claim. To the woman of Samaria, who expressed her 
hope of the promised Messiah, he said, " I that speak to 
you am He." In the porch of the temple, to the scribes 
and Pharisees who boasted of their descent from Abra- 
ham, he said, " Before Abraham was I am." Was there 



THE LOST NAME. 2 1 7 

a suggestion in those words of the ancient name I AM ? 
His assertion was regarded as blasphemy, for they took 
up stones to stone him. On another occasion the people 
said, " Tell us plainly, art thou the Christ or not?" And 
he answered, " I have told you and ye believed not ; the 
works that I do bear witness of me. 1 and my Father are 
one." At the end of his ministry, when Pilate asked him, 
"Art thou a King ?"— better, " Art thou the King?" 
i. e., the promised one — he answered, "Thou sayest it." 
The superscription of the cross was Jesus of Nazareth, 
King of the Jews. This Jesus is the mysterious figure 
whom we found walking through the history of Israel 
in the olden time. 

Let us hear then the conclusion of the whole matter. 
Jehovah is our God. Our commission, like that of Mo- 
ses, is from him : " I AM hath sent you." 

It is not a fortuitous circumstance that the old name 
by which God wished himself to be known among his cho- 
sen people is lost and forgotten. A new name has taken 
its place, the name that was given to the Christ- child : 
" And thou shalt call his name Jesus, because he shall save 
his people from their sins." The Angel of the Covenant, 
the long-looked-for Messiah, the King who was to re- 
store the kingdom to Israel, Jehovah, and Jesus are all one. 
To us, the name of Jesus is significant of everything dear 
and precious to our spiritual life. 

An old negro who had long desired to read came to 
his young mistress w r ith the Bible in his hand and his 
finger on the word "God." "Is this his name, G-o-d? 
Does that spell God ? O bless the Lord, my old eyes 
have read it !" How precious to us, beloved, should, be 
the name of Jesus, which is above every other that is 
named in heaven or on earth, the only name whereby 



218 "THE MORNING COMETH. 

any man can be saved. Let us speak it lovingly, let us 
speak it triumphantly. 

" Jesus, I love thy charming name, 
'T is music to mine ear ; 
Fain would I sound it out so loud 
That earth and heaven should hear. 

" I '11 speak the honors of thy name 
With my last laboring breath ; 
Then, speechless, clasp thee in mine arms, 
The antidote of death !" 



THE OLD LANDMARKS. 219 



THE OLD LANDMARKS. 



" Remove not the ancient landmark which thy fathers have set." 

Prov. 22:28. 

The wisdom of the Mosaic code is nowhere more 
manifest than in its provisions touching the tenure of land. 
At the time of the Conquest an equitable distribution was 
made of about fifteen millions of acres. This, allowing 
for six hundred thousand heads of families, gave something 
more than twenty acres to each, and still left above two 
millions of acres for the public domain. The land thus 
apportioned was to be held for ever. Every man in Israel 
was a landholder, and what was more he must remain so. 
If through improvidence or misfortune he lost his pos- 
session it was expressly provided that it might be re- 
deemed by a kinsman, called goel, or at the worst, in 
default of such redemption, the title reverted to its origi- 
nal proprietor in the fiftieth year — the year of Jubilee. 

We need not be disciples of Henry George to perceive 
the benefits of such an arrangement. It was impossible 
for a shiftless father to pauperize his posterity. A few rich 
owners could not monopolize the land. The lines could 
not be drawn between plebeian and patrician. Thus the 
dangers which befell the early republics of Greece and 
Italy were averted by the Jewish agrarian laws. 

It was customary to mark the boundaries of estates 
by corner-stones. To remove these landmarks, if an 
envious neighbor were so disposed, was an easy matter. 
A repetition of this offence would, in course of time, 



220 "THE MORNING COMETH/* 

involve a complete disarrangement of proprietary rights ; 
it was therefore prohibited under a severe penalty. King 
Ahab lost his crown for depriving a poor subject of his 
patrimony in land. A violation of the sanctity of the 
landmarks was in the nature of lese majeste ; it touched 
the foundation of the commonwealth, for these landmarks 
were the guarantees of individual freedom and were nec- 
essary to the security of domestic life. 

It is not with land tenure, however, that we have now 
to do, but with the spiritual inheritance handed down by 
our fathers as a rich bequest of truth and virtue. This 
is of more value than boundless acres; its title-deed is 
sealed with the image and superscription of the King of 
kings. It therefore behooves us to look well to its pres- 
ervation. An attempt to remove the landmarks of this 
inheritance is noted as one of the dangerous tendencies 
of modern thought. 

I. One of the landmarks by which this spiritual inher- 
itance is secured to us is our belief in the supernatural. 

The vandal hand reached forth to remove this boun- 
dary is Agnosticism^ the most popular form of current 
unbelief. 

The secret of spiritual wisdom is to be able to meas- 
ure aright the relative value of things visible and invisi- 
ble. The things which are seen are temporal, but the 
things which are unseen are eternal. We look towards 
the heavens and are impressed by what our eyes be- 
hold ; but the invisible law by which those multitudinous 
orbs are kept in their orbits with no perceptible pertur- 
bation for countless ages, is more wonderful than aught 
our eyes can see. We open the pages of history and 
mark the procession of kings and thrones and dynasties, 
amid noise and dust arising, triumphing, succeeding one 



THE OLD LANDMARKS. 221 

another, pausing as they pass long enough to write their 
epitaphs upon the overtowering cliffs, and vanishing like 
the baseless fabric of a dream. Far more imposing than 
all these visible powers is the philosophy of history ; the 
spirit in the wheels is a thousand-fold more real and per- 
sistent than anything which hands can handle or eyes 
perceive. So with personal influence : men live, strug- 
gle, attain greatness ; but at the last here lies Csesar at 
the foot of Pompey's statue so helpless that you may 
thrust him aside with your foot. But you cannot thrust 
aside the impalpable, imponderable, intangible thing that 
lingers after him. Influence never dies. 

The truth thus outlined holds with ten -fold emphasis 
in the province of spiritual things. We are environed by 
a world infinitely greater than our physical horizons. 
God and eternity are round about us. Now and then the 
nearness of awful verities comes to us as to weary Balboa 
and his troops came the sudden glimpse of the sea. A 
hand is reached down into our narrow lives as real as the 
hand that wrote upon the palace wall of Belshazzar. In 
the midst of our sorrows we see the ladder of light stretch- 
ing from our stony bed to the invisible throne of God ; 
or in our best moments we are caught up like Paul into 
a third heaven of visions, where we behold things which 
it is not lawful to utter. And notwithstanding our sordid 
lives, we believe in the unseen sublimities. The visible 
and tangible things upon which we set our hearts are 
passing away, but God and glory and our heavenly hope 
are sublimely real. 

All this, however, is denied by the Agnostic. " Of 
your heaven," he says, " I know nothing. There may 
be a God and heaven and endless life, but I have never 
seen them. There are some things, however, that I 



222 "THE MORNING COMETH." 

know. My bread-and-butter life is a tangible fact, the 
cries of the suffering- are ringing in my ears ; the duty 
which should engage my attention is to live an honest, 
earnest life, to do my best here and now, to make a 
livelihood, deal fairly and honestly with my fellow-men, 
relieve poverty and suffering, and make the world brighter 
and better. I know this world and propose to make the 
best of it : there may be another world, but I know noth- 
ing about it." 

With this specious form of unbelief the philosophy of 
Jesus is at odds. It says this present life is real and ear- 
nest, most of all because it is the preparation for an end- 
less one. It bids me live as a man should who is born in 
the divine likeness. Live for eternity. Be diligent in busi- 
ness, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord. In all things be 
mindful of the hereafter. Seek first the kingdom of God. 

II. A second of our spiritual landmarks is Revelation. 
By this we mean the Holy Scriptures. All other views 
of the unseen are mere fragmentary glimpses : for what- 
ever communication there may have been in ancient times 
between this world and heaven through dreams and vis- 
ions and angels' visits, the medium of intercourse to-day 
is the written Word. From the Bible we receive divine 
direction as to our belief and the conduct of our daily life. 

The enemy of Scripture to-day is Rationalism, by 
which is meant any form of exalting the reason above a 
" Thus saith the Lord." We are told that the loss of 
Scripture or its impairment as an intrinsic oracle would 
be of little relative moment, since we might fall back on 
two coordinate sources of authority, to wit, the Church 
and the Reason. 

In this present controversy as to the trustworthiness 
of Scripture we have already sustained a twofold loss : 



THE OLD LANDMARKS. 223 

First, a loss of reverence. A theory of criticism which 
requires of us an absolute surrender of all prejudgments 
as to the sanctity of Holy Writ, to the end that we may 
pass a fair judgment upon its merits, could not result 
otherwise. It is not true that the Bible must, in fair criti- 
cism, be approached as we approach any other book. 
We cannot forget its divineness. " Put off thy shoes 
from off thy feet ; for the place whereon thou standest is 
holy ground." 

Secondly, a loss of faith has been sustained. A theory 
of criticism which requires the exclusive use of the induc- 
tive process, the argument from tangible facts to conclu- 
sions, rules out the exercise of faith. Faith is the evidence 
of things not seen. The eternal verities lie within the 
province of the unseen. Faith takes God at his word. 
Rationalism in any form whatsoever must come in its last 
reduction to the position of Theodore Parker, who said, 
" I refuse to accept these things upon the authority of any 
such person as God." 

We are oftentimes reminded nowadays that Christian- 
ity is not the religion of a book, but of a personal Christ. 
The truth is, however, that it is the religion of Christ and 
of the Book as well. 

The landlords of old England held their titles under 
the seal of William the Conqueror. All those titles were 
recorded in what is historically known as the Domesday 
Book. There was not in all England a single proprietor 
who did not feel that his property was a royal gift ; and 
yet there was not one who, when his title was questioned, 
failed to fortify it by reference to the Domesday Book. 
This Bible is our ultimate authority as to truth and con- 
duct, nor can any man be loyal to Christ without being also 
loyal to that Word whereto Christ has affixed his seal. 



224 "THE MORNING COMETH. " 

III. The third of the landmarks is belief in Christ ; 
and is there indeed danger at this point ? Ay, there is ! 

In the later writings of John the Evangelist there 
walks a dim figure which he calls Antichrist. It has 
greatly bewildered exegetes to discover its meaning. The 
fact is, however, that John himself declares Antichrist to 
be any form of philosophy whatsoever which denies the 
divine personality and authority of the only-begotten Son 
of God. It was his prediction that this Antichrist should 
come and exhibit his malignant powers with special vigor 
in the last days. We observe that influence in many 
forms of humanitarianism which are prevalent to-day. 
The arrogation of profound regard for Jesus and insistence 
that all true theology shall be Christo-centric, and senti- 
mental claims of affection towards him, are not sufficient 
evidence of real Christianity as long as there is a substan- 
tial denial of what John calls the " doctrine of Christ." 

It is a true saying that straws show which way the 
wind is blowing. Twenty-five years ago the rationalistic 
wing of the Reformed Church of Germany was craftily 
engaged in controverting the authenticity of Christ's mir- 
acles and the inerrancy of Scripture. To-day the same 
school, led by Harnack, is demanding the elimination from 
the Apostles' Creed of everything that teaches the divine- 
ness of Christ. Ten years ago some theologians, having 
disposed of the integrity of the Scriptures, were eloquently 
discoursing of the " larger hope." To-day they send forth 
their manifesto for a " re-statement of the doctrine of 
Christ." In these tokens of deviation among the pro- 
fessed followers of Christ we discover a dangerous drift. 

As to the final outcome, it is quite beyond peradven- 
ture that truth and righteousness as represented in the 
Christian religion will triumph over all the earth. But it 



THE OLD LANDMARKS. 225 

is well to be informed as to current modes of unbelief, 
and to be on our guard against them. In that wonderful 
Epistle which the aged John wrote to the " elect lady " he 
cautions her not to extend the hospitality of her home to 
such as travelled at that time disseminating false views 
respecting the Saviour : " Receive not such an one into 
thy house," he said ; " neither bid him God-speed." 

IV. The fourth of the landmarks is tradition, and here 
I am aware we impinge upon the popular prejudice, for 
there is a clamor in these times against all traditionalism. 

What is tradition ? A handing down. Is a thing 
the worse for having been handed down ? Yet we are in 
constant danger of running with the multitude who clamor 
against the thing that bears the seal of antiquity. The 
hand of" Progress" is laid upon this landmark of truth. 
When Madame Roland was being led away to her death, 
during the Reign of Terror, she looked toward an image 
of Freedom in the Place de la Revolution, saying, "O 
Liberty, what dreadful things are done in thy name !" In 
like manner we exclaim, O Progress, what dreadful things 
are being done in thy name to-day ! Freedom of thought 
is a sacred thing : but " Free Thought " has come to be a 
hissing and a by-word. And Progress in theological 
circles has come to mean a reckless abandonment of every- 
thing that age has sanctified with its holy seal. 

Is a thing the worse for being well approved by age ? 
Do we feel less kindly toward our President that in his 
recent inauguration he put aside the new imprint of the 
Scriptures that he might take the oath of office upon his 
mother's Bible ? Were the truths in that Bible the less 
acceptable to a man abreast of the times, because his mo- 
ther had loved and cherished them ? 

This is the charge which is brought against dogma. 

*5 



226 "THE MORNING COMETH/' 

It has forsooth " been handed down." The word is used 
for frightening timid people. In fact a dogma is nothing 
more nor less than a formulated truth bearing the marks 
of age and of long trial and the warrant of venerable 
authority. Charcoal and diamonds are both essentially 
the same — both carbon : charcoal was made but yester- 
day, while diamonds have been under pressure for ages. 
Current opinions are loose charcoal, a dogma is a soli- 
taire. 

God forbid that we should refuse to welcome a new 
truth ! But, by the same token, God forbid that we should 
part with the old without just reason for rejecting it ! 
Let us sing with all our hearts, 

" Ring out the old, 
Ring in the new." 

And with all our hearts let us add — 

" Ring out the false, 
Ring in the true.' ' 

The Jews lost their ancestral possessions because they 
gave no heed to the divine sanctions which would have 
preserved them, and they were sent forth a nomad and 
bewildered race of peddlers and pawnbrokers. It is an 
easy thing to lose one's spiritual inheritance. Let us take 
heed therefore to the landmarks. 

That was wise counsel which the aged Paul gave to his 
son Timothy, " Continue thou in the things which thou 
hast learned and hast been assured of, knowing of whom 
thou hast learned them ; and in the Scriptures which are 
able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which 
is in Christ Jesus." O friend, let no man rob thee of thy 
patrimony of truth and virtue ; let no man take thy crown ! 



THE LEAST COMMANDMENT. 227 



THE LEAST COMMANDMENT. 



" If a bird's nest chance to be before thee in the way, in any tree, or 
on the ground, whether they be young ones or eggs, and the 
dam sitting upon the young, or upon the eggs, thou shalt not 
take the dam with the young ; but thou shalt in any wise let 
the dam go, and take the young to thee ; that it may be well 
with thee, and that thou mayest prolong thy days." 

Deut. 22:6, 7. 

The Jewish lawyer was a doctor of divinity. The law 
schools of the olden times were theological seminaries. 
This was made necessary by the fact that the government 
of Israel was a Theocracy. Its jurisprudence was based 
on the Scriptures, as indeed the jurisprudence of all the 
civilized nations of the earth rests upon the Word of God. 

In the rabbinical schools of Israel much attention was 
given to word-weaving and letter-worship. The lawyers 
were fond of counting and measuring all the precepts of 
the moral and ceremonial law. They said there are two 
hundred and forty-eight affirmative and three hundred 
and sixty-five negative precepts, which make a total of 
six hundred and thirteen, that being the number of letters 
in the Decalogue and also, strange to tell, the number of 
veins and arteries in the human body. The same conclu- 
sion was reached, in another way. The fringe of the rab- 
binical robe was called tsitsith, the letters of which, being 
used numerically, made a total of six hundred ; to 
this add eight for the threads of the braid and five for the 
knots, and you have again six hundred and thirteen— 
the full number of the precepts of the law. 



228 "THE MORNING COMETH." 

It was also considered a fine matter to discriminate 
between the relative importance of the various precepts. 
Some were light and others heavy, they said. As to 
which was the greatest of the commandments there was a 
difference of opinion. Some said it was the Sabbath law, 
others the injunction against idolatry, others still, the rule 
prescribing the breadth of the phylacteries. The lawyer 
who came to Jesus with the query " Which is the greatest 
commandment ?" was tempting him, i. e., testing his rabbin- 
ical wisdom. When the Lord said, " How readest thou ?" 
he may have pointed to the band upon the lawyer's fore- 
head, whereon was written, "Hear, O Israel, the Lord thy 
God is one Lord ;" and " Thou shalt love the Lord thy 
God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all 
thy strength, and with all thy mind." The Lord pro- 
nounced this to be the greatest of the commandments and 
added, to the lawyer's discomfiture, that the second was 
similar, " Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself." 
But whatever difference of opinion there may have been 
as to the greatest commandment, there was a general con- 
sensus as to the least. It was the precept touching the 
despoiling of a bird's nest. We shall see, however, that 
there was not sufficient ground for this conclusion. We 
have here a very important commandment, and there are 
some very salutary lessons to be learned from it. 

I. A lesson in particular ethics. Blessed is the man 
who has a conscience quick to discern between the right 
and wrong in small matters. There is, indeed, a popular 
prejudice against scrupulosity. But why should this be? 
Our word scruple is derived from the Latin scrupidns, 
meaning a small stone or bit of gravel. It seems a slight 
matter ; but if it be under a man's eyelid it assumes a su- 
preme importance; or even in his shoe it gives him no 



THE LEAST COMMANDMENT. 229 

end of pain, yet not so unless he step upon it. So is it 
with a sensitive conscience. The pain is a word of 
warning. It is wise to heed the scruple lest there be a 
permanent injury to conscience. 

We speak of little sins, but there are none. There is 
no trifle in moral casuistry. How do we estimate the 
strength of a building ? By taking the average of the 
stones and beams ? No ; rather by finding the weakest 
stone in the foundation, the one that has a flaw running 
through it. How do we estimate the staunchness of a 
ship ? By taking the girth of its massive hulk ? or cal- 
culating the trustworthiness of its clamps and rivets? No, 
but by finding its one worm-eaten plank. How do we 
estimate the strength of a bridge? By the imposing ap- 
pearance of its piers or the bulk of its cables ? No, rather 
by the weakest link in the chains that anchor its great 
spans. How do we know the strength of a tiger's cage ? 
By finding its weakest bar, for this lets the tiger out. And 
strength of character is measured in the same way. We 
go round about it until we find a point whereat it yields 
to a darling sin. Thus it is wisely written, " He that of- 
fendeth in one point is guilty of the whole law." 

We speak of small duties — there are none. The least 
of our moral obligations has in it the sanctity of a divine 
edict. We are compassed about by whispers ; " Do this," 
says the still voice, or " Do that." And our character 
depends upon our heeding it. In the Cathedral of Mo- 
dena there is a bucket which once belonged to the public 
well. It was stolen by some soldiers in a frolic. Inquiry 
was made and the bucket was passed from hand to hand. 
At length it came into the possession of the young Prince 
Henry of Sardinia. A battle was fought to secure it. 
Prince Henry was made a prisoner. His imperial father 



230 "THE MORNING COMETH/' 

offered a gold chain seven miles long for his ransom. It 
was refused. The Prince lay twenty years in prison, 
pined away and died. Meanwhile a war was fomented in 
which most of the Governments of Europe engaged and 
which involved the loss of thousands of lives* Oh no, 
there are no trifles in human life. Or, if there are, we are 
not competent to determine upon them. We cannot tell 
the reach of their issues. " How far yon little candle 
throws its beams. " The safe plan is to heed the divine 
voice in all matters whatsoever. " Whatsoever he saith 
unto you, do it." 

II. A lesson in the law of kindness. We have in this 
precept not merely a precaution against the extirpation of 
a species, but a command that advantage shall not be 
taken of a mother-bird by reason of her solicitude for 
her brood. 

We emphasize the duty of beneficence towards our 
fellow-man. The good Samaritan is our ideal. But the 
law of kindness goes far deeper. It obliges us to take an 
interest in the comfort and well-being of our poor rela- 
tions in the lower orders of life. 

(i.) Here is a question of rights. Has a dumb crea- 
ture any rights which the lords of creation are bound to 
respect? Jeremy Bentham says wisely, "That interrog- 
atory must be settled by this other, Can they suffer?" 
Anything that can suffer has rights. Theodore Parker 
says that when a mere lad he saw a turtle on a log and, 
seizing a stone, crept cautiously towards it; he raised 
the stone, but heard a voice within and could not throw 
it. He ran to his mother and asked her what this meant. 
She told him that it was the protest of the doctrine of 
rights ; in other words, the voice of God. 

(2.) Here also is a question of privilege, the high priv- 



THE LEAST COMMANDMENT. 23 1 

ilege of manhood. Thoreau, of Concord, went out to 
dwell in the woods near Walden Pond. He took no gun 
or rod. The animals soon found him out and said, 
" Here is a man that means no harm." The squirrels 
came and nestled under his waistcoat; the very fish in 
the pond seemed to know him. There was a pleasant 
understanding between him and the dumb creatures around 
him, and all the world loves Thoreau the better for it. 

It is related of Abraham Lincoln that when he was 
going the rounds of the circuit court with a company of 
fellow-attorneys, the coach drove by a pool where a 
wretched swine was making vain efforts to extricate itself 
from the mire. The sight provoked laughter, but Lincoln 
was silent. After a while he said, " I do n't know how 
you feel about it, gentlemen, but I have got to go back." 
And they watched him while he returned, went down into 
the mire and helped the poor creature out of its distress. 
We can but feel that there was somehow a vital connec- 
tion between that incident and the one which afterwards 
made him immortal — the freeing of four millions of slaves. 

(3.) Here also is a question of Christian principle. It 
has been said that a man is not a true Christian unless his 
cat and dog are the better for it. The Ancient Mariner 
was right when, at the door of the festal hall, he said : 

" Farewell, farewell, but this I tell 
To thee, thou wedding-guest : 
He prayeth well who loveth well 
Both man and bird and beast. 

" He prayeth best who loveth best 
All things both great and small ; 
For the dear God who loveth us, 
He made and loveth all." 



232 "THE MORNING COMETH. 

III. Here is a lesson also respecting the increase of 
faith. In this small precept we have a deep insight into 
the mind of God. 

He who guides the innumerable worlds in their orbits 
cares also for the least living thing. " Are not two spar- 
rows sold for a farthing?" said the Lord; "and one of 
them shall not fall on the ground without thy Father." 
He saw the sparrows exposed for sale in the gateways of 
Jerusalem, plucked and strung on a willow twig, two for a 
farthing. And God cared for them. Then came that 
glorious argumentum a fortiori, " Shall he not much more 
care for you, O ye of little faith ? The very hairs of your 
head are all numbered." 

Why do we doubt the special providences of God ? 
Was it strange that Molinaeus, taking refuge in an oven 
on the night of the massacre of St. Bartholomew, should 
be spared? " O God," he prayed, " cover me with thy 
hand !" And while he prayed a spider wove its web 
across the oven's mouth ; a gust of wind filled the web 
with dust ; the dew came down and in the early morning 
glistened upon it. The fugitive's heart stood still as the 
footfall of his pursuers came nigh ; but seeing the spider's 
web, they said, " He is not here," and passed on. Thus 
the God who hears the chirp of the sparrow hearkens to 
his people's cry. " Are ye not of more value than many 
sparrows, and shall he not care for you ?" 

O friend, art thou cumbered with much serving ? bur- 
dened with the cares of a busy life ? " Unbind thy brow," 
as quaint George Herbert says. Take no anxious thought. 
Rest thou in God. Wait thou upon him. He that be- 
lieveth shall not make haste. Art thou groping in quest 
of truth as blind men feel their way along the wall ? Art 
thou eager to know the great verities ? Let Him take thy 



THE LEAST COMMANDMENT. 233 

hand and lead thee into light. Let him lead thee to Cal- 
vary, where the voice speaks, "Thy sins be forgiven 
thee !" and then let him lead thee over the hill of Re- 
demption into the tasks and responsibilities of an ear- 
nest life. Art thou afraid of the future ? Ah yes, we are 
all afraid. Who knoweth what the future, what the 
morrow, shall bring forth? But why should we fear? 
" Ye believe in God, believe also in Me. Let not your 
heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. " The Lord, 
who remembers the mother-bird and her unfledged young, 
will not be unmindful of us. To-morrow is a grisly 
giant, who, like Goliath, comes to meet us, brandishing a 
spear like a weaver's beam, and saying, " I will give thy 
carcass to the beasts and the vultures. " But let us gather 
up the Lord's promises as the stripling took the smooth 
stones from the brook for his sling, and let us go forth 
and meet this giant in full confidence, saying, " Thou 
comest to me with sword and buckler, but I come to thee 
in the name of the Lord my God." O blessed faith ! Be- 
lieve — only believe ; be able to say, with the apostle 
Paul, " I know whom I have believed, and that he is able 
to keep that which I have committed to him against that 
day." 

Of all that the poet Bryant has written there is nothing 
more helpful than his " Ode to a Water-fowl." Its lesson 
is plain to one who has ever noted the lone wanderer sep- 
arated by the huntsman's gun from his fellows, pursuing 
his way at a majestic height, guided unerringly along the 
path marked out for him : 

" Whither, 'midst falling dew, 

While glow the heavens with the last steps of day, 
Far through their rosy depths dost thou pursue 
Thy solitary way ? 



234 "THE MORNING COMETH." 

" Vainly the fowler's eye 

Might mark thy distant flight to do thee wrong, 
As darkly limned upon the crimson sky 
Thy figure floats along. 

"Seek'st thou the plashy brink 

Of weedy lake or marge of river wide, 
Or where the rocking billows rise and sink 
On the chafed ocean side ? 

" There is a Power whose care 

Teaches thy way along the pathless coast, 
The desert and illimitable air, 

Lone wandering but not lost. 

" All day thy wings have fanned 

At that far height the cold thin atmosphere, 
Yet stoop not, weary, to the welcome land, 
Though the dark night is near. 

" And soon thy toil shall end ; 

Soon shalt thou find a summer home, and rest 

And scream among thy fellows ; reeds shall bend 

Soon o'er thy sheltered nest. 

" Thou art gone ! The abyss of heaven 

Hath swallowed up thy form ; yet in my heart 
Deeply hath sunk the lesson thou hast given, 
And shall not soon depart. 

" He who from zone to zone 

Guides through the boundless sky thy certain flight, 
In the long way that I must tread alone 
Will lead my steps aright." 



SINGING AS WE JOURNEY. 235 



singing AS WE JOURNEY. 



"And when they had sung a hymn, they went out into the Mount of 
Olives." Matt. 26:30. 

The upper chamber in Jerusalem, Thursday, thir- 
teenth Nisan. A memorable time and a memorable place. 
It was then and there that Jesus, girding himself with a 
towel, and basin in hand, washed his disciples' feet, say- 
ing, " I have given you an example, that ye should do * 
unto one another as I have done unto you." It was then 
and there that he instituted the Holy Supper, the simple 
feast of bread and wine which through all the centuries has 
commemorated his vicarious death. It was then and there 
that he bequeathed to his disciples his unspeakable peace, 
" Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.' ' 
It was then and there He made his priestly supplication, 
" Father, the hour is come ; glorify thy Son, that thy Son 
also may glorify thee. I pray for them which thou hast 
given me, for they are thine : all mine are thine, and thine 
are mine ; and I am glorified in them. Holy Father, keep 
through thine own name those whom thou hast given me, 
that they may be one, as we are." 

Then, the sermon and prayer being over, they sang a 
hymn and went out. As was customary on the night 
preceding the Passover, they doubtless sang the great 
Hallel, " Oh give thanks unto the Lord, for he is good, 
his mercy endureth for ever. The voice of rejoicing and 
salvation is in the tabernacle of the righteous. The 



236 "THE MORNING COMETH/' 

right hand of the Lord doeth valiantly. The stone which 
the builders refused is become the head-stone of the cor- 
ner. Blessed be he that cometh in the name of the Lord. 
Bind the sacrifice with cords fast unto the horns of the 
altar. Oh give thanks unto the Lord, for he good, his 
mercy endureth for ever." 

I. It is pleasant to know that Jesus sang. We some- 
times think of him as an austere man. In Quentin Mat- 
sy's masterpiece he is represented with dishevelled locks, 
hollowed cheeks, eyes dimmed, and brows overarched 
with anguish — a man of sorrows, acquainted with grief. 
He was, however, no cynic, no anchorite, but a man 
among men. It is not recorded that he ever laughed, yet 
his heart must have been full of laughter; for, seeing the 
sorrow of the world, he saw the joy beyond it. All men 
laugh unless they are stolid or dyspeptic, and he was 
neither. On this occasion he was passing into the dark 
shadow of the cross, yet he joined in the great Hallel, 
" Oh give thanks unto the Lord, for he is good, for his 
mercy endureth for ever." 

Why should not Jesus sing ? 

(1.) His heart was in sympathy with all things pure 
and lovely and of good report. The town where he spent 
his boyhood is overlooked by a precipitous hill six hun- 
dred feet above the level of the sea. It is not to be 
doubted that oftentimes he climbed up yonder to com- 
mune with God. The mountain flowers were about his 
feet, and every one of them was like a swinging censer full 
of perfume. All about him were orchards and vineyards 
and verdant pastures, and every grass-blade was inscribed 
with his Father's name. He watched the eagles pois- 
ing in the cloudless azure and heard the hum of busy life 
in the village below ; saw Tabor to the eastward clothed 



SINGING AS WE JOURNEY. 237 

with oak and terebinth, and beyond the western hills the 
mists rising from the Great Sea; to the south lay the 
plain of Esdraelon, scene of a hundred battles, and far 
beyond were the gleaming domes of the Holy City. How 
the soul of this Jewish youth must have rejoiced in the 
memories of the past and in the promises of the future 
triumph of Israel's God ! His heart gave thanks with the 
leaping of the brooks ; the birds sang and he sang with 
them. 

(2.) Why should not Jesus sing? He had a clear 
conscience, of all living men the one only who knew no 
sin. He only could go to his rest at eventide with no 
cry, " Have mercy upon me, O God ! against thee have 
I sinned and done evil in thy sight." For him there 
were no vain regrets, no " might have beens." There 
was no guile in his heart, no guile on his lips. He was 
conscious of no war in his members, his soul was set 
on the discharge of duty. Out on yonder hilltop he 
watched the sun rise, " as a bridegroom coming out of 
his chamber, and rejoicing as a strong man to run a race." 
He himself had thus issued from the palace of heaven. 
He had before him the great work of redemption. No 
being in the universe ever confronted so stupendous a 
task, yet he shrank not, murmured not. " Lo, I come," 
said he ; " in the volume of the book it is written of me, 
I delight to do thy will, O my God." 

(3.) Why should not Jesus sing? He clearly foresaw 
the ultimate triumph of truth and goodness. " For the 
joy that was set before him he endured the cross, despi- 
sing the shame." Out on yonder hill at evening he 
watched the sun go down in golden glory. Red banners 
waved ; the spear-points of the heavenly host shone with 
crimson splendor as they came forth marching to the great 



238 "THE MORNING COMETH." 

Armageddon, the final consummation of all things. Up 
yonder he heard the clash of arms and the cry, " Baby- 
lon the great has fallen ! has fallen !" and the rattle of 
chains as the great enemy fell headlong into the abyss, 
and then a rolling back of the mighty gates and the glad 
acclaim of welcome, " Lift up your heads, O ye gates, 
and be ye lift up, ye everlasting doors, and the King of 
glory shall come in. Who is this King of glory ? The 
Lord of hosts, he is the King of glory." He saw thus the 
end from the beginning. He knew that he was to see the 
fruit of the travail of his soul. He knew'that his blood 
would water the world's wildernesses until they should 
bloom like rose gardens. He knew that, whatever rebuffs 
and reverses there might be, truth and righteousness were 
sure to triumph in the end. 

"The eternal step of Progress beats 
To that great anthem, strong and slow, 
Which God repeats." 

There would be martyr-fires and persecutions and the 
souls of the faithful would tremble within them, but his 
trembled not. 

" Take heart, the waster builds again ; 
A charmed life old Goodness hath. 
The tares may perish, but the grain 
Is not for death.' ' 

He knew that through all the vicissitudes of history the 
irresistible God would sit upon his throne, that everything 
would be overruled to His ultimate glory. Oh if we could 
only perceive this ! If only we had somewhat of the Mas- 
ter^ faith ! 

" God works in all things ; all obey 
His first propulsion from the night ; 
Wait, thou, and watch, the world is gray 
With morning light" 



SINGING AS WE JOURNEY. 239 

II. Observe that the disciples of Jesus sang with him. 
The visible Church was gathered around the sacramental 
table that night, and the upper chamber was filled with 
the gladness of thanksgiving. I seem to hear two voices, 
deep and rotund, accustomed to shouting through the tur- 
moil of the stormy lake — the Sons of Thunder. Another 
voice is a clear tenor, sonorous and perceptible among 
them all, that of Matthew the publican. Another is timid 
and tremulous, for neither in song nor otherwise was doubt- 
ing Thomas ever quite sure of himself. One was a hoarse, 
strident voice, making discord; brave, blundering Peter 
might have no voice nor ear for music, but sure am I he 
always did his part in making a joyful noise unto the Lord. 
And while all these united in the great Hallel, under the 
windows a watchman, or some belated Jerusalemite per- 
haps, paused and listened and wondered who could be 
singing thus at dead of night. 

This was the beginning of the singing church. Taci- 
tus says that the Christians were wont to rise at daybreak 
and in retired places sing to the honor of the Christ, whom 
they worshipped as God. The Church of Jesus Christ 
has come down through the ages like a bird singing ever 
with the dew of morning on its wings. 

(1.) It is meet and proper that we should sing in the 
services of the sanctuary. In Solomon's temple, when the 
sons of Asaph in their white linen raised the tune, accom- 
panied with the great orchestra of harps and cymbals 
and followed by the mighty choirs shouting back from 
the galleries in antiphonal service, the cloudy Presence 
came forth from behind the fine-twined curtains and filled 
the sacred place ; so while we sing, the doors of the sanc- 
tuary move upon their hinges and He enters, whose pres- 
ence brings to us fulness of life and joy. 



240 "THE MORNING COMETH. 

(2.) It is meet and proper that we should always sing 
as we go about our tasks. The carpenter does better work 
if he whistles as he drives his plane. The Puritan girl in 
" The Minister's Wooing," humming the old Psalm tunes, 
might well make her lover think of heaven and angels. 
The soldiers, a hundred locked to every one of the great 
guns, vainly sought to climb the steep ascent of St. Ber- 
nard until the flutes struck up La Marseillaise, " Ye sons 
of freedom, wake to glory !" We also lift our burdens the 
more easily, meet our sorrows the more resignedly, per- 
form our services and tasks the more joyously, when God's 
praises are ringing in our hearts. 

(3.) And in sorrow God giveth his people " songs 
in the night." Paul and Silas at Philippi, their feet in 
the stocks, their backs tingling with the pain of recent 
scourging, made the dungeon ring with song, insomuch 
" that the prisoners heard them." It was a most unusual 
sound. Those dark corridors had rung with oaths and 
curses many a time ; but who were these that could uplift 
at midnight the melodies of thanksgiving ? " The pris- 
oners heard them." Ay, beloved, the prisoners always 
hear us when we praise God in the darkness. And why 
should we not? We do not sorrow as those who are 
without hope. Has Death entered your doorway ? Then 
conventionality has always said, " Draw the blinds, shut 
out the sunlight, drape the mirrors, weep copious tears." 
But God's angels come, saying, " Ye are not children of 
the darkness but of the light ; sing therefore, 

"Let sorrow's rudest tempest blow, 
Each chord on earth to sever : 
Our King says, * Come V and there 's our home, 
For ever and for ever." 

Old wrinkled Time says, " This is not your abiding- 



SINGING AS WE JOURNEY. 241 

place." The angel says, " Ye seek another country, even 
a heavenly, and a city that hath foundations, whose build- 
er and maker is God." Sing then, 

"O mother dear, Jerusalem, when shall I come to thee? 
When shall my sorrows have an end, thy joys when shall I 
see?" 

Pilgrim, in the allegory, went singing clear from the 
City of Destruction to heaven's pearly gate. He sang as 
he dragged himself out of the Slough of Despond, as he 
climbed the Hill of Difficulty, after his fight with Apollyon, 
past the Giant's cave, in the Pleasant Meadows, by the 
River of Life, when he escaped from Doubting Castle, as 
he journeyed through the Delectable Gardens in the land 
of Beulah, and so until he passed through heaven's gate. 
Nor did his singing end there, nor shall ours end there. 

Could w r e look aloft at this moment and see through the 
open windows, our eyes would be dazzled by the efful- 
gence of the glory which gathers about Him who sitteth 
upon the throne ; we should hear the four-and-twenty eld- 
ers lift their voices in the great Hallel and the circle of angels 
and archangels, ten thousand times ten thousand and 
thousands of thousands, swelling the great anthem, " O 
give thanks unto the Lord, for he is good, for his mercy 
endureth for ever and ever," and the still greater multi- 
tude which no man can number, of saints triumphant, add- 
ing their voices to the general praise, " Worthy is the 
Lamb that was slain to receive power and riches and wis- 
dom and strength and honor and glory and blessing." 

But, good friend, you cannot join this chorus unless you 

believe in Christ ; it is faith that pitches the tune. How 

shall we sing the Lord's song in a strange land ? We 

must stand with him at the Sacrament in the upper cham- 

16 



242 "THE MORNING COMETH." 

ber and hear his assurance of pardon and receive his 
benediction, " Peace I leave with you, my peace I give 
unto you : not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let 
not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid," if you 
would make mirth in your heart unto him. Let us pray 
the prayer of David, " Open thou my lips, that my mouth 
may show forth thy praise," for our sins, our shame, and our 
sorrow have closed our lips. God's love in Jesus Christ 
can put into our hands the harp that too long has hung 
upon the willows and can attune our souls to the song of 
salvation. " I waited patiently for the Lord ; and he in- 
clined unto me and heard my cry. He brought me up 
also out of a horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set 
my feet upon a rock, and established my goings. And he 
hath put a new song into my mouth, even praise unto our 
God : many shall see it and fear, and shall trust in the 
Lord." 



THE HAPPY MAN. 243 



THE HAPPY MAff. 



Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, 
nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of 
the scornful: but his delight is in the law of the Lord; and 
in his law doth he meditate day and night. And he shall be 
like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth 
his fruit in his season ; his leaf also shall not wither ; and 
whatsoever he doeth shall prosper. The ungodly are not so; 
but are like the chaff which the wind driveth away. Therefore 
the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in 
the congregation of the righteous. For the Lord knoweth the 
way of the righteous: but the way of the ungodly shall perish. 

psalm 1. 

The opening words of this Psalm furnish its title, 
Ashrey ha-ish, literally, O the happinesses of that man ! It 
is as if the Psalmist were present and bidding us behold in 
this Happy Man a realization of the universal hope. For 
there is no person living who does not desire to be happy 
Yet this desire is likely to be thwarted by the very eager- 
ness with which we pursue it. It is a true saying, " Happi- 
ness is a coy jade, ever fleeing from him who pursueth her." 

" No man," said Solon, " is happy until, mayhap, 
after he dies." The testimony of Abd-er-Rahman, the 
Caliph of Cordova, was of similar import. " Fifty years 
have elapsed," said he, " since I began to rule; I have 
had friends, riches, and honors in abundance. On reckon- 
ing up the days wherein I could say I was happy in them, 
I find they have been fourteen days in all." 

If ever a man pursued happiness under the most 
favorable conditions, it was King Solomon. He had 



244 "THE MORNING COMETH. 

wealth without stint. He sat upon a golden bull, with six 
golden lions at his feet. His stables were on the most 
magnificent scale. His gardens were called paradises. 
An army of cup-bearers and other attendants waited upon 
him. He had men and women singers and all sorts of 
retainers to delight him. Yet this was his conclusion of 
the whole matter, " Vanity of vanities, all is vanity." And 
with respect to the pursuit of pleasure particularly, he 
said, " Of laughter, it is mad ; and of mirth, what doeth 
it?" 

But here our attention is directed to a happy man. 
John Trapp said quaintly, in 1660, "The Psalmist hath 
said here more to the point respecting happiness than all 
the philosophers ; for while they beat the bush, he hath put 
the bird into our hand." 

I. As to the character of this happy man. " He 
walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in 
the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful." 
In other words, he is described as being in the world but 
not of it. 

A man who would meet the conditions of his being 
must be in the world as a living part of it. The Master's 
plea for his disciples was, " I pray not that thou shouldst 
take them out of the world, but that thou shouldst keep 
them from the evil." The monks of the olden time made 
a great mistake when, feeling that the world was very evil, 
they sought to escape defilement by retiring from it. In 
the solitude of the cloisters they passed the time in 
droning their prayers, in illuminating missals, and count- 
ing their beads. Under the very shadow of the monastery 
walls the unshod people were crying out in their distress 
for everything that makes life worth the living. There 
was a famine of the Word, there was a universal call for 



THE HAPPY MAN. 245 

help ; but the anchorites at their solitary devotions made 
no response to it. No, this is not the Christian life. We 
must needs be in the world — not dreamers among the 
shadows, but men among men. The world has need of 
us. The workshop and the office demand us. The secu- 
lar cares of this world are, of necessity, upon us. Let us 
fall in with the glorious army of producers and desire to 
add to the world's possession of material good. To be 
diligent in business is an essential part of a religious life. 
Our Lord might have come upon his great errand of de- 
liverance in the guise of a heavenly prince with the halo 
about his brow, but he did not. He might have come as 
a philosopher, holding himself aloof from the masses, 
dreaming dreams and seeing visions, but he did not. He 
was a man of the people, one of the great multitude of 
average men. He entered into the fellowship of com- 
mon toil, made ploughs and harrows, talked with his fel- 
low-townsmen about the passing affairs of life, and was a 
man among men — as we should be. 

But the secret of true happiness is non-conformity. 
Being in the world, we should not be of it. While our 
associations must needs be in some measure with the 
ungodly, their counsels, their way, and their seats are not 
for us. There is a vital difference between those whose 
interests are absorbed in the perishable things of this 
world and such as have their conversation in heaven — 
as real a difference as there is between a light-ship 
anchored far out at sea, tossed by the winds, beaten by 
the roaring storms, yet never moved from its moorings, 
and the mighty ship that sails past with its canvas set, 
breasting the waves and hastening on to its desired haven. 
God's people go to their offices and their work-shops 
just like other men, but their affections are not set upon 



246 "THE MORNING COMETH." 

this world; they are ever mindful of their noble birth, 
their divine inheritance, their glorious destiny. Their 
happiness is not worn upon their sleeves ; but they know 
that earth is not their abiding-place, and that after a 
while their pilgrimage will end in a blaze of glory at 
heaven's gate. 

It is written, " By faith Abraham, when he was called 
to go out into a place which he should after receive for 
an inheritance, obeyed and went out, not knowing 
whither he went." No doubt, as he journeyed along the 
banks of the Euphrates, he passed through many a ham- 
let where men were dwelling in houses which their fathers 
had built. And doubtless they said, "Abide with us." 
But the voice from heaven bade him journey on. We 
also have no abiding city here. We dwell in tabernacles, 
looking for a better country, even a heavenly, and for a 
city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is 
God. 

The man who realizes this non - conformity in his 
daily life has reached the state of truest happiness which 
this world can give. He is superior to all the vicissitudes 
of this present world. His life is hid with Christ in God. 
Oh the happinesses of that man ! 

II. The secret of the happiness of that man is said 
to be in his attitude towards the divine law. The " Law 
of the Lord" was a Jewish phrase for the Scriptures. 
The happy man possesses a right estimate of the import- 
ance of the Word of God. 

In one of Joseph Parker's sermons he says, " Why is 
there so much incertitude in Christian profession and of 
inconsistency in Christian life? Because we have lost 
our Bible." I do not believe, however, that the case is so 
bad. It is true that a multitude of people are losing 



THE PIAPPY MAN. 247 

their faith in the Scriptures as an infallible rule of faith 
and practice. And wherever that occurs the result is 
doubt and bewilderment. For this reason it is surmised 
that the present biblical controversy is unspeakably por- 
tentous of evil. We have confidence to believe, however, 
that the vast multitudes of God's people are still loyal to 
revealed truth. They still hearken to the divine oracle 
as the court of last appeal in all matters of truth and 
righteousness. They believe with all their hearts in these 
things which have been revealed from on high through 
holy men who wrote as they were moved by the Spirit 
of God. 

(1.) The man who by reason of his happiness is here 
called to our attention as "that man," is said to be a 
reader of the Scriptures. 

It is one of the hopeful signs of the times that the army 
of young people who constitute the Society of Christian 
Endeavor are pledged as follows : " Trusting in the Lord 
Jesus Christ for strength, I promise him that I will do 
whatever he would like to have me do ; that I will make 
it the rule of my life to pray and to read the Bible 
every day." 

No man can be a happy Christian who does not hold 
communion with God through the appointed means. 
Thomas a" Kempis said, " I am never so happy as when 
in a nook with the Book," 

(2.) The man here referred to reads the Scriptures 
" with delight." 

We are much given in these times to a critical study 
of the Word. It must not be assumed, however, that the 
biblical expert gets the deepest or most comprehensive 
grasp of the truth. The way to appreciate the beauty of 
Murillo's picture of the Immaculate Conception is not to 



248 "THE MORNING COMETH." 

approadi it with spatula and ammonia for purposes of 
minute analysis, but rather to gaze upon it until we 
are filled with the mighty thoughts that went surging 
through the soul of the master genius who painted it. It 
is quite possible to know a thing too well to understand 
it. In all literature there is scarcely anything finer than 
Mark Antony's oration over the body of Caesar, yet we 
smile at the mere suggestion of it : 

" Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears ; 
I come to bury Caesar, not to praise him. 
The evil that men do lives after them ; 
The good is oft interred with their bones : 
So let it be with Caesar." 

The reason why it fails to impress us is because in the old 
school-days we parsed the life, out of it. We resolved its 
oratorical beauty into mere nominative cases and transi- 
tive verbs. It is much to be feared that in like manner 
we fritter away the glory of the Scriptures in mere . 
analysis. However we may devote ourselves to the 
criticism of the text, let us be sure that the immense veri- 
ties and spiritual sublimities do not lose their hold upon 
us. 

(3) This happy man not only reads the Scriptures 
with delight, but he meditates in them. 

The introduction of the art of printing has not been 
without its compensation of evil. Time was when the 
Bible was chained to the cathedral altar. In those days 
it was a labor of love to reach it. The penitent sinner 
came and turned over the leaves of the parchment until 
he came to the place where it is written, " Though your 
sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though 
they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool ! " He 
read that over and over again and took it away with 



THE HAPPY MAN. 249 

him. The man in trouble came and knelt, with his great 
burden, before the pages of the chained book and found 
the place where it says, " Come unto Me, all ye that labor 
and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." And he 
rolled that over like a sweet morsel under his tongue and 
gave it a lodgment in heart and memory. The little 
children were brought by their parents and permitted to 
touch the passage where it says, " Suffer the children to 
come unto me and forbid them not, for of such is the 
kingdom of heaven." And though possibly they never 
saw the book again in all their lives, they remembered that 
and were helped by it. But nowadays we read and run, 
and running we forget. We need to cultivate the habit 
of meditating in the Word. For truth is inexhaus- 
tible ; it is a bottomless mine of strength and comfort. 
The deeper we dig, the more gold w r e get. The word 
" meditateth " in this place is rendered by St. Augustine, 
" chatter eth." In God's law this man "chattereth day 
and night." So in these spring-time days as we pass 
along the streets we hear the sparrows chattering with 
their hearts full of the prophecy of bloom and fruitful- 
ness. So glad and happy are the souls that meditate 
with delight in the divine law. The truth is like an Ori- 
ental bride who never lifts her veil save for the one who 
loves her. To see her face is the privilege of the chosen 
one. Oh the happinesses of that man ! 

III. We observe now the outcome of this happy 
life, to wit, fruitfulness. " He shall be like a tree planted 
by the rivers of water ! " 

(1) This life is rooted well. It is nourished by the 
river that flows from the throne of God. 

(2.) Its leaf also shall not wither. It is the leaf that 
shows the character of the tree. An elm does not need 



250 "THE MORNING COMETH." 

to cry aloud, " I am an elm-tree," nor a maple, " I am 
a maple-tree," for the passer-by can lift his eyes to 
the foliage and readily distinguish between them. The 
man whose soul is full of truth and righteousness need 
not be saying perpetually, " I am a Christian,", for his 
walk and conversation declare it. 

(3.) He bringeth forth his fruit in due season. In the 
parable of the vine and its branches a profound emphasis 
is put upon fruitfulness. " If ye abide in Christ and he in 
you, ye shall bring forth fruit, much fruit, more fruit, con- 
tinually." In other words, we shall be ever doing good 
as we have opportunity. No man is guaranteed that 
happiness who has not known the generous pleasure of a 
kindly deed. It is related of Alexander the Great that 
while hunting in the forest, having ridden ahead of his 
suite, he heard a groan and following it came upon a sore 
wounded man. He bent over him, lifted his head, chafed 
his temples, and did his utmost to restore him. When 
one of his courtiers came the Emperor greeted him with 
the cry, " Oh this is the happiest day of my life ! I have 
saved a man !" He had subdued kingdoms ; the posses- 
sions of vast empires were subject to his command ; the 
dream of universal conquest had been almost realized in 
his career ; yet he had never known such pleasure as in 
helping this destitute and distressed one. And indeed 
this is the very consummation of human joy. He who 
follows most closely in the footsteps of jesus, who went 
about doing good, comes nearest to the possession of 
happiness ; as it is written, " Oh the happinesses of that 
man !" 

There is, however, an obverse of this picture. The life 
of the righteous is here summed up in one word, " pros- 
perity." "Whatsoever he doeth shall prosper." The 



THE HAPPY MAN. 25 I 

contrast is marked in two words, "The ungodly are 
notso" 

(1.) As to his life— it is chaff. The wind sweepeth 
over the threshing-floor and driveth it away. You can- 
not gather it up, there is no profit in it. 

(2.) As to his death, it is like a furrow in the sea— 
11 the way of the ungodly shall perish." When the farmer 
drives his plough through the soil, it means that a harvest 
will follow for the hungry ones ; and when the keel of the 
vessel cuts the surface of the sea, there is a furrow marked 
by a stream of phosphorescent light ; the light vanishes, 
the waves sweep over, and all is gone. 

(3.) And after death he shall, "not stand in judgment." 
It was that word "judgment " that made Felix tremble in 
his audience-room at Caesarea. There is a certain fearful 
looking forward to judgment in every impenitent heart. 
The man who lives aright sees heaven's windows open 
above him and hears the songs of the angelic host But 
the ungodly are not so. 

It is safe to say that most of us have been disappointed 
in our pursuit of happiness. There is however a right 
way and a sure way to pursue it. Jesus was the busi- 
est of men. Whether in the workshop or " going about 
doing good," he was always happy. And when he died 
on the accursed tree with the darkness closing around 
him, oh then his cup of happiness ran over ; for " He saw 
of the travail of his soul and was satisfied." If we would 
be happy let us join our fortunes with his. Let us sell 
all and come and follow him. At his right hand are 
pleasures for evermore. The princes of the olden time 
were wont to take their distinguished guests into their 
wine cellars and open for them the old vintages. Our 
Lord invites his guests into the heavenly gardens, " Come 



2$2 "THE MORNING COMETH." 

into my garden and eat my pleasant fruits ; take of the 
pomegranates, gather the clusters, pluck the apples from 
the tree of life, dip down into the waters of the King's 
well." Ay, here are pleasures for evermore. To be one 
with Jesus Christ in self-denial, in labor of love and of 
hope, is to enter into his joy. " These things have I 
spoken unto you," said he, " that my joy might be filled 
in you and that your joy might be full." 

We shall never realize the full meaning of those words 
until we see him standing at heaven's gate and saying, 
" Well done; enter into the joy of thy Lord." 



WHAT MAKES A GENTLEMAN? 253 



WHAT MAKES A GENTLEMAN? 



The servant of the Lord must be gentle unto all. 2 Tim. 2:24. 

The word "gentleman" is not found in the Scrip- 
tures. There is, however, much about manhood there — 
as in the exhortation, " Quit yourselves like men ; be 
strong," and in the call to perfect manhood in " the meas- 
ure of the stature of the fulness of Christ " — which com- 
pletely covers the case. For there is no true standard of 
gentlemanliness which has not manhood for its basis. 
The flaccid young fellows who arrogate to themselves this 
title upon no better ground than the possession of a patri- 
mony and an acquaintance with the latest fashions in 
haberdashery are not gentlemen at all. 

We want a definition to begin with. What is a gen- 
tleman ? In Johnson's old dictionary the word is said to 
include all above the rank of yeoman. Sir Thomas Smith 
in his " Commonwealth " says, ' Whosoever studieth in 
the university, and professeth liberal science, and can live 
without labor, and beareth the charge and countenance of 
a gentleman, shall be called so." In the " Merry Wives of 
Windsor " we have an old-time silhouette — " A gentleman 
born, master parson, who writes himself Armigero ; in 
any bill, warrant, quittance, or obligation, Armigero." 
Chapman says : 

" Measure not thy carnage by any man's eye, 
Thy speech by no man's ear ; 
But be resolute and confident, 
And this is the grace of a right gentleman." 



254 "THE MORNING COMETH. 

Sir Philip Sidney, quite competent to speak as being 
himself the knight without reproach, puts all the chivalric 
virtues into one brief sentence, " High thoughts seated in 
a heart of courtesie." 

Webster states it almost as briefly, "A gentleman is 
one of education and good breeding." The gentleman's 
portrait moreover is clearly drawn in Paul's First Epistle 
to Timothy, as one " blameless, vigilant, sober, and of 
good behavior." In other words, a gentleman is simply 
the highest style of man. He may wear a threadbare 
coat, may be penniless and friendless, but a man's heart 
is beating in his breast. 

I. The distinguishing feature of the gentleman — when 
viewed by himself alone — is self-respect Milton said, 
" The pious and just honoring of ourselves may be 
thought the radical moisture and fountain head from 
whence every laudable and worthy enterprise issues 
forth." 

By self-respect we do not mean vanity. Vanity is a 
totally different thing. Vanity is the characteristic of a 
coxcomb. In the moral province it assumes the form of 
self-righteousness, and the outcome is a purblind Phari- 
see. A moment of introspection must take the conceit 
out of any honest man. For the inward look discovers 
the fact that he is a sinner. " Naaman the Syrian was a 
mighty man of valor — but he was a leper;" that fact must 
have humbled all his pride. 

But the fact that we are sinners does not affect our 
divine birth or the glorious possibilities before us. The 
human soul is 

"A beam ethereal, sullied, and absorpt, 
Though sullied and dishonored, still divine." 

Our sin may be forgiven, our chains broken, and our 



WHAT MAKES A GENTLEMAN? 255 

original estate recovered. Meanwhile, alas for him who 
forgets his high dignity as a child of the living God. 

A rational self-respect proceeds not only from a due 
consideration of the natural glory of manhood, but, more- 
over, from the possession of certain manly graces, such 
as truth, purity, and moral sensitiveness. 

A gentleman is a man of truth. His sense of honor 
makes and keeps him so. Says Calvert: " He may 
brush his own shoes or clothes, or mend or make them, 
or roughen his hands with a helve, or foul them with 
dye-work or iron-work ; but he must not foul his mouth 
with a 11^'' " Will you have the word of a king?" said 
Charles I. to his commoners. " Nay, more ; I give you 
the word of a gentleman.' ' When one's nice regard for 
truth, candor, and sincerity goes out, forthwith shame 
comes in. 

He must also be a man of purity. Never will he de- 
scend to the vocabulary of the bar-room. Many a young 
man has a breath fouled beyond all sweetening of cloves 
and cardamoms. A low jest leaves behind it a festering 
sore. Vulgarity prints itself on the cheeks and in the 
eyes. The sky is full of pictures, and the fields are full 
of daisies ; why should a young man seek his pleasure in 
mire and stagnant pools ? 

" Pick from thy mirth all filthiness : 
T is the scum with which coarse wits abound ; 
The fine may spare it." 

The gentleman will be possessed also of moral sensi- 
tiveness — an essential part of honor. Lord Chesterfield 
was a gambler and therefore no gentleman. He wrote to 
his son a series of elaborate letters on courtesy, yet that 
son died in the gutter. The trouble lay in a blunted 
moral sense. Beau Brummel was called the first gentle- 



2$6 " THE MORNING COMETH." 

man of Europe ; he required a quarter of an hour for the 
creasing down of his cravat. Yet one of his precepts 
was that we should not annoy ourselves with questions of 
conscience. Therefore the world calls him no longer a 
gentleman, but a knave, a dram-drinker, and a rake. 

II. The gentleman, when viewed in relation to others, 
is characterized by courtesy. Courtesy is the finest of hu- 
man graces. It exacts a recognition of the just claims of 
all sorts and conditions of men. It accepts the apostle 
Peter's admonition, " Honor all men." 

It rules out servility, for it is founded in the truth of 
human equality. No gentleman can allow that God ever 
created a man with larger natural rights than his own. 
" The rank is but the guinea's stamp ; the man 's the 
gowd." But there are certain relations founded in the 
divine ordinance which impose upon us the duty of sub- 
jection without a murmur. Thus it is written, " Honor 
thy father and thy mother, that thy days may be long 
upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee." 
And again it is written, " Honor the king," that is, the 
constituted authority. Law is a sacred word to a gentle- 
man. He regards the powers that be as entitled to rev- 
erence because they are ordained of God. 

A still severer test of gentility is in one's bearing to- 
wards those whom adventitious circumstances have placed 
beneath him. You never know whether a patrician is a 
gentleman until you have observed his treatment of his 
valet. The last words of Wellington seem common- 
place at first glimpse, but in reality they were quite worthy 
of " the iron duke." A trusted servant pressed upon him 
a cup of tea, saying, " Will you drink, my lord?" " Yes, 
if you please." 

But the acid test is in one's treatment of the poor and 



WHAT MAKES A GENTLEMAN? 257 

suffering. No gentleman ever laughs at a stammerer or 
is surly to a child. It was said by Edmund Burke a 
hundred years ago that chivalry was dead. It is indeed 
true that knights go forth no more, with crosses on their 
breasts and ladies' gloves fluttering from their spear- 
points, to avenge the wronged and vindicate the weak. 
" Their swords are rust, 

Their good steeds dust, 

Their souls are with their God, we trust." 

But the spirit of true chivalry survives and is constantly 
showing itself in valorous and magnanimous deeds. A 
few years ago the ship " Birkenhead " struck upon a hidden 
rock and, the sea pouring rapidly in, her crew and pas- 
sengers knew that she must go down. On board were 
the Ninety-first Highlanders under command of Captain 
Wright. The order was given to place the women and 
children in the boats. This being done, the skipper bade 
the crew shift for themselves, and they struck out for the 
already overladen boats. Captain Wright ordered the 
bugle call ; whereat his men mustered on the upper deck 
as if on dress parade. The ship reeled and staggered before 
her final plunge. A last order was given ; the Highlanders 
closed ranks, fired a feu de joie> and went down. Oh no ! 
while such things are done upon the earth it is not fair 
to say that chivalry is dead. The Golden Rule is not a 
dead letter. The mind that was in Christ Jesus is, in less- 
er degree, in multitudes of men. 

III. The invoice of the graces of gentlemanliness is 
not complete until we have considered man in respect to 
God. We may not leave God out of the reckoning. In 
this relation the characteristic of a gentleman is devo- 
tion. At this point there are three considerations which 
press themselves upon us. 
17 



258 "THE MORNING COMETH." 

Firsts Providence. In God we live and move and 
have our being. We slept in his arms last night ; he has 
cared for us all through the day. In our relations with 
our fellow-men we count it a matter of common courtesy 
to recognize a favor with thanks. Shall we withhold from 
God the meed of courtesy which we concede to our fellow- 
men ? We breathe his air ; we eat his food ; we are the 
recipients of his favor continually. Is it too much to 
kneel down and say " I thank thee " ? Is there one 
among us who has not prayed or otherwise confessed his 
obligations to the Giver of all good this day ? To such 
a one I say in all candor, " Sir, by any test of gentility 
that obtains in common life, you are no gentleman." 

Second, Grace. If it be true that God gave his only- 
begotten and well-beloved Son to die for our salvation; 
if it be true that his blood is the ransom paid for our 
redemption, then it follows that we are placed under a 
mighty obligation ; and as honorable men we should give 
ourselves no rest until we have discharged it. It is writ- 
ten " Ye are not your own ; ye are bought with a price," 
not silver and gold, but the precious blood of Jesus, as of 
a lamb without blemish and without spot. The man who 
rejects Christ can give a reason for repudiating this debt ; 
but the man who believes the old, old story and still 
withholds his service from Christ is ipso facto a defaulter. 
If there is one such in this presence, 1 say to him in all 
frankness that until he does his utmost to meet the ob- 
ligation which he acknowledges, he is no gentleman. 
For true gentlemen are wont to pay their honest debts. 

Third, the wonderful life. Christ was in the world not 
only to redeem it, but to set forth in his own character 
and in his own walk and conversation the pattern of a 
holy life. In him we behold the highest type of man. 



WHAT MAKES A GENTLEMAN? 259 

"The best of men that e'er wore earth about him 
Was a sufferer, a calm, meek, patient, loving spirit, 
The first true Gentleman that ever lived." 

To be like Jesus is to attain to the full stature of 
man. The imitation of Christ is therefore the most im- 
portant business of life. 

When Thomas Hughes, the author of " Tom Brown 
at Oxford," would select a theme wherein to set forth the 
chivalric graces, he chose "The Manliness of Christ. ,, 
This Christ was the Perfect One — so gentle towards weak- 
ness, so firm in his loyalty to truth and righteousness, so 
merciless towards all shams, so charitable in his treat- 
ment of the erring, so brave in defending the friendless, 
so forgiving of injury, so pure in word and deed, so heroic 
in death ! 

Wherefore, I pray you, in his name, whatsoever things 
are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things 
are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things 
are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report, if there 
be any virtue and if there be any praise, think on these 
things. For these are things that make for manhood be- 
cause they bring a man into Godlikeness. 

" Come wealth or want, come good or ill, 
Let old and young accept their part 
And bow before the heavenly will, 
And bear it with an honest heart. 

" Who misses or who wins the prize? 
Go, lose or conquer, as you can ; 
But if you fail or if you rise, 
Be each, pray God, a gentleman. " 



260 "THE MORNING COMETH. 



DARKNESS AT HIGH NOOK 



"And when the sixth hour was come, there was darkness over the 
whole land until the ninth hour." Mark 15:33. 

The battle of Waterloo, fought on the eighteenth of 
June, 18 15, is possibly the turning-point of human history; 
it determined the adjustment of the nations and in some 
measure the destinies of the race. Victor Hugo calls it 
the " world's earthquake." But on April 7, A. D. 30, a 
greater battle than Waterloo was fought, in which in- 
finitely larger issues were involved and on which de- 
pended the eternal future of all the children of men. 
On that day the Prince of Darkness, with all the legions 
of the infernal world, met Emmanuel who had come 
forth as the sole champion of our ruined race. There 
were legions of angels and archangels who were eager 
to participate, but it was ordained that Jesus should 
tread the wine-press alone. The gage of the conflict 
was the dominion of this world. For four thousand years 
Satan, as the prince of this world, had held the con- 
trolling influence. Here, on Calvary, the issue was joined, 
and for six awful hours truth and error, sin and right- 
eousness, life and death, confronted each other in mortal 
conflict. 

At noon on that memorable day, in the very thick of 
the conflict, the strange thing happened which is now to 
engage our thought. The sun was just crossing the 
meridian. It had been glowing like fire on the golden 



DARKNESS AT HIGH NOON. 26 1 

dome of the temple yonder, and shining on the soldiers' 
shields and burnished spear-points. Pitilessly it blazed 
upon the agonizing figure on the cross. Then, on a sud- 
den, for no perceptible reason, it seemed as if a thin veil 
were drawn before it. The air grew slowly sombre and 
lurid ; the wind arose and made a plaintive moaning 
across the hills. Over on the slopes of Olivet the cattle 
laid themselves down as if the night were coming on. The 
birds fluttered to their nests. Soon the shadows closed 
in until it was no longer possible to read the inscriptions 
on the phylacteries of the rabbis who stood by. The last 
beam of light vanished, until one could not see the out- 
line of the cross against the sky. Then deep silence set- 
tled down, broken only by the half-stifled sobbing of the 
women, the muttered oaths of the guards as they jostled 
each other in the dark, and the dropping of blood. Deep 
midnight darkness at high noon ! What was the mean- 
ing of it ? 

I. Was it an eclipse? All attempts to eliminate the 
supernatural from this occurrence are in vain. We gain 
nothing by explaining away miracles, for indeed every 
breath we draw has a marvel in it. We live in the midst 
of the supernatural, and while we are putting one miracle 
out at the door, a thousand come swarming in at the win- 
dows. So, in the long run, we should gain nothing by 
assuming an eclipse here. But this hypothesis is out of 
the question : the darkness lasted too long, it extended 
too far. It was felt away in Egypt where Dionysius cried 
out that " one of the gods must be agonizing." And fur- 
ther, the conclusive answer to this vain hypothesis is in 
the fact that the Passover occurred at the time of the full 
moon. The miracle therefore stays ; we cannot get rid of 
it. 



262 "THE MORNING COMETH." 

II. But shall we say that this was an expression of 
the sympathy of nature for her dying Lord ? And why 
not? When Lincoln was assassinated we draped our 
pulpits in black and hung the tokens of sympathy across 
our doorways. The nation, of whose government he was 
chief magistrate, went into mourning for his untimely 
taking off. 

Is not this world the kingdom of our Lord ? Did not 
he create it ? There was not a bird or beast or creeping 
thing that was not under his sway. And trees and flow- 
ers — he made them all. Out of the hollow of his hand he 
poured the waters that filled the mighty deep. He set 
up the pillars of the universe. He reached out into space 
and took hold of nothing, like a magician, and when he 
withdrew his hand there was a world in it. One by one 
he spun the suns and stars out upon their orbits. The 
universe was his. 

And now the King of this great kingdom was dying. 
Why should it not assume the trappings of woe? 

" Well might the sun in darkness hide, 
And shut his glories in, 
When God, the mighty Maker, died 
For man, the creature's, sin." 

III. Or was this an expression of divine indigna- 
tion ? the gathering frown on Jehovah's face ? With 
what, then, was he angry ? There is only one thing in the 
universe that can provoke the divine wrath, and that is 
sin. And here, on Calvary, was the consummation of 
four thousand years and more of persistent sin. God 
created our parents and blessed them and placed them in 
a garden where grew such sweet and pleasant flowers as 
nowhere else were seen ; but they defied his authority and 



DARKNESS AT HIGH NOON. 263 

broke his holy will, and then he drove them out and set 
the flaming sword of his anger at the garden-gate. As 
they multiplied and replenished the earth, he still envi- 
roned them with his providence and blessed them with 
his grace. He bore with their transgressions and sent 
angel visitants to urge them to a holy life. 

Then looking down from heaven to see if there were 
any that wrought righteousness, He was moved to say 
" There is none that doeth good, no, not one." And again 
his anger went forth against them ; he opened the windows 
of heaven, unstopped the fountains of the great deep, and 
swept them all away. Then re-peopling the earth he 
renewed his goodness to the children of men. But 
all in vain, for they built altars to Baal and Astarte and 
gave themselves up to all manner of abominations, and so 
for centuries, until at last he sent his only-begotten Son to 
remonstrate with them. Then sin reached its ultimate ; it 
thrust its dagger to the heart of God's well-beloved Son. 
Was it not meet that the divine face should gather into a 
frown that day ? 

Yet is not God angry with abstract sin ; there is in- 
deed no such thing as abstract sin. He was and is angry 
with sin in the concrete, as it dwells in you and in me. 
And there is a sense in which all sin has in it the nature 
of crucifixion. It is enmity against God. It rejects his 
overtures of mercy and lifts its hand against his well-be- 
loved Son. Oh if we could but behold it with the divine 
eyes how should we hate and abhor it ! 

IV. Or shall we regard this darkness as setting 
forth the triumph of the wicked one ? Here was the cul- 
mination of thirty years of war, for during all the earthly 
life and ministry of Jesus, the Prince of Darkness had set 
up obstacles and striven to thwart his divine purposes in 



264 "THE MORNING COMETH." 

every way. He had tempted him, had embittered the 
hearts of his friends and brethren, had set the scribes and 
Pharisees to spy upon him, and laid all manner of pitfalls 
in his path. And all the while Jesus was going about 
doing good, preaching the glorious truth of the divine 
mercy, working miracles of healing, and setting forth in 
his walk and conversation the excellences of the holy life. 
And this was the end of it ! 

It must have been an hour of rejoicing in the infernal 
regions when the dark-winged messenger brought the 
tidings, " They have seized upon the Christ, have tried 
and condemned, have mocked and derided him ; they 
have led him out to Calvary, have nailed him to the ac- 
cursed tree and lo ! he dies in anguish." What shouts of 
triumph then! " The kingdom shall still abide with us; 
fling out the banners of the night !" 

But all their rejoicing was premature and momentary. 
On the cross, above the head of the dying Saviour, were 
four cabalistic letters, I. N. R. I., Jesus Nazarenus, Rex 
Judczorum. He is the King of the whole Israel of God. 
Had he not said, " I, if I be lifted up, will draw all men 
unto me" ? And presently when he comes forth out of 
the darkness he will have at his girdle the keys of Death 
and Hell, and upon his vesture and thigh will be seen a 
name written, King of Kings and Lord of Lords ; and 
from that moment he will go forth conquering and to 
conquer until the restitution of all things. 

"All hail the power of Jesus* name, 
Let angels prostrate fall ; 
Bring forth the royal diadem, 
And crown him Lord of all I" 

V. But while there is some measure of truth in all 
these suggestions, we have yet to mark the full signifi- 



DARKNESS AT HIGH NOON. 265 

cance of this darkness at noon. It sets forth the exercise 
of the priestly function of Jesus for the deliverance of his 
people from their sin. 

In the calendar of Israel there was one day which by 
reason of its importance was called the Great Day. It was 
the day on which the high-priest made atonement for his 
people. On that day was heard no sound of hammer or 
axe, no food could be prepared or eaten, no loud word 
might be spoken. The high-priest, arrayed in fine linen, 
clean and white, his hands filled with the blood of the 
sacrifice, in the presence of all the people who gazed with 
deepest interest, lifted the outer veil and passed into the 
tabernacle. No eye must gaze upon the mysteries there. 
He drew aside the curtain of the Holiest of All and bowed 
before the ark of the covenant, sprinkling its golden cover, 
the Mercy-seat, with the sacrificial blood. He made his 
prayer for the people and presently came forth again, and 
in token of the success of his mediatorial errand laid his 
hand upon the head of the scapegoat and sent it forth to 
Azazel, out into the wilderness, out into forgetfulness, 
laden with the people's sin. 

So on this memorable day on Calvary our High-Priest 
passed into the Holiest of All, and darkness fell like a veil 
behind him. No human eye must gaze upon him while 
with bleeding hands he sprinkles the Mercy-seat for us. 
But presently when the darkness lifts, the fact will be dis- 
closed that the redemptive work of Jesus has been finished 
and there is therefore now no condemnation to them which 
are in him. 

Two helpful thoughts let us carry with us ; one as to 
the sinner's doom. It is said of Luther that, in reading 
of this strange darkness, he sat silent for a long while and 
then cried out, "The Son of God was God-forsaken! 



266 "THE MORNING COMETH." 

Who can understand it?" We cannot, indeed, under- 
stand it unless we believe that Jesus, who knew no sin, was 
made sin for us ; that he stood as our representative be- 
fore the offended law ; that he was made a curse for us 
and the world's sin was laid upon him. In the great con- 
fession of the universal church we say, " I believe that he 
descended into hell." If there was ever a moment of 
which we can truly say that, it was when he passed into 
the deep darkness and when that awful cry pierced the 
night, " My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" 
It was the doom of all sinners that he was bearing then. 
This was hell, the undying worm, the unquenchable fire ; 
he bore it for us. 

The other thought is of the sinner's deliverance. Often 
had the Jews demanded, " Show us a sign." At last, in 
this stupendous darkness, the sign was given. By this 
and by the returning of the light when Jesus had finished 
his work, let us believe that he was veritably the Son of 
God and able to save unto the uttermost all who will 
come unto God by him. It is because he pressed to his 
lips the purple cup of death that we shall drink of the 
river of life that floweth out from the throne of God. It 
is because he was bruised for our offences that we, believ- 
ing in him, shall go scot free for ever ; for by his stripes 
we are healed — blessed be his name ! 

At the ninth hour the light returned, the execution 
was over, the people went down to their homes in Jerusa- 
lem, turning ever and anon to mark the gloomy outline 
of the cross and its burden against the heavens, say- 
ing one to another, " The Nazarene is dead !" But oh, 
how little they knew what that meant — the Nazarene is 
dead ! Through him life and immortality are brought to 
light. He conquered death. 



DARKNESS AT HIGH NOON. 267 

" O Death, where is thy victory? 
O Grave, where is thy sting ?" 

" Thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through 
our Lord Jesus Christ. ,, 

We also come down from the hill Calvary to meet at 
this ninth hour, in the returning light, our common tasks, 
but with new hope. Let us go on with renewed courage, 
let us love him more, let us serve him better, let us walk 
with him to the crucifixion and triumph in the grace of 
his resurrection, until the day break, and the shadows 
flee away, and we stand in the light of his countenance 
for ever ! 



268 "THE MORNING COMETH." 



WHAT CHRISTIANITY HAS DONE FOR 

THE WORKINGMAN. 



" I am the Lord thy God, which have brought thee out of the land 
of Egypt, out of the house of bondage." Exod. 20: 2. 

The noblest of the Roman epics begins with the 
words, " Arma virumque cano ;" on which Thomas Car- 
lyle remarks, " The epic of our times is not ' Arms and the 
man ' but ' Tools and the man I sing,' " The great prob- 
lems are not being wrought out on the battlefield, but in 
the great centres of industry. The best men of to-day are 
the producers, such as by braincraft or handicraft add to 
the material possessions of the children of men. 

At the time when our Lord Jesus came into the world 
there were three classes of people : 

First, the Patricians, who lived in luxurious ease. 
Pliny says that he saw Lollia Paulina arrayed for a feast 
in finery that cost forty million sesterces or something 
more than two millions of our money. Sabina, the wife 
of Nero, took with her when journeying five hundred she- 
asses to furnish milk for her cosmetic baths. And these 
asses wore gold and silver shoes. It was not counted an 
extraordinary thing to spend the revenues of an entire 
province on a banquet in those days. The tables were 
furnished with the brains of peacocks and the tongues of 
nightingales and similar delicacies. Thus it will be seen 
that the Patricians rolled in wealth. But they were nu- 
merically an insignificant part of the population, for in 



CHRISTIANITY AND THE WORKINGMAN. 269 

Rome there were only two thousand knights and senators 
in all. 

Second, the Slaves. And these were the most abject 
class. They lived in ergastula, or slave stables, where 
they were oftentimes chained in their stalls. In old age 
they were exposed on an island in the Tiber. They had 
no rights which their superiors were bound to respect. 
Of these les miserables there were in the empire sixty 
millions. 

Third, the Plebs Urbana, an idle, shiftless class. They 
formed the bulk of Roman citizenship — God save the 
mark ! To their minds it was not respectable to work ; 
that was the business of the slaves. The cry of the Plebs 
was ever " Panem et cir censes" bread and games ! And 
there were three hundred and twenty thousand of these 
reputable citizens who received congiaria, or public corn 
rations. They spent their forenoons lounging about the 
forum and their afternoons at the amphitheatre. There 
were three hundred and eighty-five thousand seats in the 
circus. Here the gladiatorial contests took place, the 
pompa diaboli. The Emperor Trajan had eleven thousand 
wild beasts brought into the arena at one festival. While 
the Plebs sat witnessing these games, their patrons from 
above threw figs and fruits to them. At the conclusion of 
the games they went to their wretched homes, which, in 
respect to comfort, were incomparably beneath the tene- 
ment houses of these days. They were called insulcz, and 
there were forty-four thousand of them in the Imperial 
City. As a rule a Plebeian wore only a tunic, for he had 
but a single garment to his name ; if fortunately he pos- 
sessed a toga, he reserved it to be buried in. 

Where then was the thrifty middle class, the class that 
constitutes the strength of our modern civilization ? There 



270 "THE MORNING COMETH. 

was none. All labor was remanded to the slaves. The 
Patricians and Plebeians lived alike in gentlemanly leisure. 

Then came the Carpenter of Nazareth. He was dis- 
tinctly a man of the people. We are accustomed to think 
of him as crowned with a halo of light. But there was no 
halo or other outward symbol to distinguish him from the 
great multitude of common men. He had something 
better. Deep down in his heart was the divine purpose to 
uplift the fallen and vindicate the rights of the oppressed. 
His great heart was in sympathy with the masses. He 
came as a knight-errant to exalt the lowly ones. 

It is only nineteen hundred years since then; the 
ripening of that glorious purpose has been slow but sure. 
The mills of God grind slowly, but they grind exceeding 
small. We look back now over the centuries and are 
able to estimate what Christ has done for the multitudes. 
It will be of interest to note what the influence of this Naz- 
arene Carpenter and the religion which he instituted has 
been upon the welfare of the workingman. 

I. To begin with, He has levelled up the race. The 
tendency of all other forces which have had to do with 
the labor problem and the great industrial questions of 
all the ages has been to level down. The cry is, " Down 
with the aristocracy, down with wealth and noble birth 
and culture !" But the gospel shibboleth is, " Up with 
the people !" It was the purpose of Christ to vindicate 
the importance of man as man. Adventitious conditions 
were nothing to him. He loved man as made in the like- 
ness of God. And this thought of our universal birthright, 
be it observed, lies at the basis of the true philosophy of 
human rights. The Carpenter of Nazareth taught the 
solidarity of the race ; one man is as good as another, be- 
cause there is one God and Father of all. " I perceive/' 



CHRISTIANITY AND THE WORKINGMAN. 2/1 

said Peter, " that God is no respecter of persons." Fol 
low up that declaration and you come to Runnymede. 
In Magna Charta, that great instrument of human rights 
which was drawn up in the meadow at Runnymede, there 
is no mention of the people and no reference to labor save 
in the stipulation that a man might not be deprived of the 
implements of his trade. But if we follow up that mani- 
festo still further, we shall come within sound of the bell in 
Independence Hall which rang out the proclamation that 
all men are created free and equal and with certain inalien- 
able rights. Thus the philosophy of the Galilean Carpenter 
has been slowly but surely making its way among the na- 
tions. And man is coming to be more and more respected 
by reason of his manhood, his birthright as a child of God. 
II. The gospel of Jesus Christ has dignified labor. 
And what other religion has done this ? Plato, Cicero, 
and Lycurgus all held that it was a disgrace to touch the 
implements of common toil. It is a matter of immense 
import that Jesus himself was a workingman. It is worth 
asking whether we should not have made better progress 
in the propaganda of his gospel had we long ago aban- 
doned the luminous halo, and crowned him simply with 
the square cap of a carpenter. He was indeed very 
God of very God; but, tabernacled in flesh, he was also 
very man of very man. And it is Jesus the carpenter 
who must win the masses. The twelve whom he gath- 
ered about him at the beginning of his ministry were all 
men of braincraft or handicraft. There was not among 
them a single gentleman of leisure. So in the early church 
the great multitude of believers were from among the 
working people. On the one hand not many mighty, not 
many noble, were called ; and on the other, there was lit- 
tle in the new religion to attract the indolent, for this was 



2J2 "THE MORNING COMETH. 

one of the early Christian precepts, "If any will not work, 
neither let him eat." The church ever since has been re- 
cruited from the same source. Luther was a miner's son ; 
Zwingli was a shepherd lad ; Cardinal Wolsey was the 
son of a butcher ; John Bunyan was a tinker ; William 
Carey a shoemaker ; Jeremy Taylor a barber ; Dr. Liv- 
ingstone a weaver. Thus wherever the genius of Christ's 
gospel has prevailed, a special honor has been put upon 
the children of toil. 

III. The religion of Christ has everywhere bettered the 
material condition of the working classes. The question 
of wages lies at the centre of the reconciliation of capital 
and labor. Our Lord said, " The laborer is worthy of his 
hire." 

In fact the very thought of wages is peculiar to na- 
tions which have felt the influence of the Christian 
religion. No wages were paid in ancient Rome ; the 
working class lived on charity. The despicable custom 
of giving a douceur to the waiters in our restaurants is a 
remnant of the ancient pagan world. The Pyramids were 
built by laborers who lived on onions and lentils doled 
out to them by their overseers. A quid pro quo, an hon- 
est wage for an honest day's work, was as yet undreamed 
of. But as time passed and the gospel began to take hold 
upon the universal heart and conscience, it was felt that 
the producer was worthy of something beyond a mere 
livelihood. The improvement in the condition of the 
toiling class was gradual but sure. Age -buttressed evils 
are not levelled in a day. As late as the thirteenth cen- 
tury a carpenter in England received but threepence per 
day. In the fourteenth century the hours of labor were 
from five in the morning until seven-thirty in the evening, 
and a workman was not permitted to change masters 



CHRISTIANITY AND THE WORKINGMAN. 273 

without a six months' warning. In the time of Charles II. 
a weaver received sixpence for a day's work. But there 
is evidence of progress in the growing discontent. Ma- 
caulay speaks of a ballad circulated at that time in which 
the weavers deplore their sixpence and plead for a shilling 
a day. There has been magnificent progress since then. 
John Stuart Mill says that the laboring classes of our 
times receive more pay per annum than professional men, 
and there is no more self-respecting class than the hand- 
workers. 

" The heart of the toiler has throbbings 
That stir not the bosoms of kings." 

And this is the immediate result of Christian influence. 
Let the doubter consult a map of the world. Let him 
observe how China is a land of mandarins and coolies ; 
how Egypt is a land of rich men and beggars ; how Tur- 
key is a land of pashas and slaves. In what nation out- 
side of Christendom is labor regarded with honor or the 
laborer permitted to be a self-respecting man ? If, on the 
other hand, we are reminded of the discontent which pre- 
vails among laboring people in Christian lands, of the 
strikes and processions of strikers marching through our 
streets with banners bearing the legends of their discon- 
tent, let it be remembered that these very expressions of 
desire to improve their condition are an evidence of the 
influence of the gospel. Who ever heard of a procession 
of discontented toilers marching through the streets of the 
Oriental cities ? The right of complaint is one of the 
rights which Christianity has vindicated among men. 

IV. The religion of Jesus Christ makes it possible for 

the lower classes to rise. There is an old proverb, Ne 

sutor ultra crepidam, Let the shoemaker stick to his last. 

But under the influence of the Nazarene Carpenter the 

18 



274 "THE MORNING COMETH." 

shoemaker is permitted to rise above his last. In pagan 
nations the various classes are required to keep their 
place. The Hindoos say that when Brahm created the 
race he made Brahmans from his head, the Kshatrya or 
soldiers from his breast, the Vaisya or merchant class 
from his loins, and the Sudras or laborers from his feet. 
And within these lines there are hundreds of divisional 
lines which have remained from time immemorial, which 
it is quite impossible to cross. This is so far true that the 
water-carriers and scavengers of Bombay are the children 
of those who were scavengers and water-carriers many 
hundreds of years ago. But in Christian countries a 
golden ladder is placed before the feet of every ambitious 
man and he is urged to mount it. 

Men often lament the multiplication of millionaires in 
these days. It is indeed a most significant fact. A re- 
cent tabulated estimate shows that there are four thousand 
and forty millionaires in the United States, and of these 
one thousand and three reside in the city of New York. 
But is this cause of lamentation ? No, rather shall we not 
rejoice in it ? For who are these men who have accumu- 
lated such wealth ? Nearly all of them have come up from 
the ranks — they were poor men or the children of poor 
men. The thing which has been done, may be done again. 
It is a glorious fact that no man, however humble, need 
despair of prosperity if he be thrifty and industrious. 
But let it be observed that this possibility is found only 
in countries under the benign influence of the religion of 
Christ. 

What shall we then say to these things ? The religion 
which has accomplished so much can be trusted to ac- 
complish more. The rights of the toilers are safe in the 
hands of the Nazarene Carpenter. If Christianity cannot 



CHRISTIANITY AND THE WORKINGMAN. 275 

bring about the adjustment of the relations between em- 
ployer and employe, what force can do it ? 

A godless anarchy tried its hand upon the problem in 
the days of the Reign of Terror. It wrote upon the 
church doors and upon all the dead walls of Paris, every- 
where, Liberty, Fraternity, Equality. It raved and 
fought, and with what result ? To-day the French peas- 
ant still wears his smock-frock and wooden sabots. 

Or is it likely that communism will bring about the 
consummation devoutly to be wished ? Its achievements 
thus far encourage no hope. The workingman himself 
has no confidence in it. 

" What is a communist? One who has yearnings 
For equal division of unequal earnings. 
Idler or bungler, he 's one who is willing 
To fork out his penny and pocket your shilling." 

"The-" strike" has ever been a weapon of weakness. 
It rests on the sophism that two wrongs may make a right. 
The difficulty is one which cannot be adjusted by violent 
measures. Some thousands of years ago, in Egypt, a son 
of the Hebrews went out among his brethren who were 
toiling among the brick-kilns and looked upon their bur- 
dens. He saw them toiling hard and receiving no recom- 
pense, oppressed and beaten by their taskmasters. In 
sudden anger he drew his sword and wrought murder 
with it. By that deed the deliverance of Israel was de- 
layed forty years. He was sent out into the wilderness 
cf Midian to meditate in solitude upon his unwise pre- 
cipitancy. To him, in fulness of time, the Lord said, 
" I have seen the affliction of my people and have heard 
their cry by reason of their taskmasters, and I am come 
down to deliver them." Then on a certain night the 
signal was given and they set forth. That was a magnifi- 



276 "THE MORNING COMETH." 

cent " march out." And lo, yonder in the heavens the 
pillar of cloud went before them. The Almighty had 
taken matters into his own hands, as it is written, " I 
am the Lord thy God, which have brought thee out of 
the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage." Suc- 
cess is sure when God is with us. 

It is helpful and stimulating to know that God, at this 
day, walks up and down among the children of men in 
the person of the Nazarene Carpenter. He has come into 
the world not merely to deliver men from spiritual and 
eternal death, but to lessen the pains and augment the 
pleasures of this present life. 

Oh this is a glorious Christ, a glorious Bible, a glori- 
ous religion that touches our troubled lives at every 
point ! 

By the mediation of Jesus of Nazareth, the labor ques- 
tion and all the problems of humanity will be wisely ad- 
justed. Adam Smith said, "A prudent self-interest is the 
sufficient basis of economic science." It would be w r iser to 
say that self-sacrifice is the beginning and end of economic 
science. The settlement of this question, together with 
the adjustment of all the relations of human life, must be 
brought about by the operation of the divine principle 
which the Lord Jesus Christ set forth in the golden rule : 
" Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men 
shotdd do to you, do ye even so to them," 



SHALL WE KNOW EACH OTHER IN HEAVEN? 2^ 



SHALL WE KNOW EACH OTHER IN 
HEAVEN? 



" But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning 
them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which 
have no hope." i Thess. 4:13. 

The poverty of our Western farmers is largely due to 
the fact that while they multiply their acres they content 
themselves with tilling a small portion for present use. 
We keep ourselves poor, spiritually, for a like reason. 
As God's children and co-heirs with his only-begotten 
Son we have a vast inheritance. In all directions it 
stretches out of sight. But alas, we put under tillage an 
infinitesimal part of it, only so much of it as lies imme- 
diately around our present homes and their belongings. 
Oh for a view from Nebo's summit ! Oh for a clear ap- 
prehension, not only of the privilege of holy living here, 
but of those unspeakable things which God hath reserved 
for them that love him ! 

One of the charms of Holy Scripture is that, taking 
for granted the existence of a brighter and better world, 
it relieves the uncertainty respecting it with a twilight 
glow of vision and prophecy, and stimulates in us a long- 
ing, like that of Israel, to go over and possess the land. 
A glorious land indeed, and among its attractions there 
is none that affects us more profoundly than the antici- 
pation of meeting and recognizing those whom we have 



278 "THE MORNING COMETH." 

loved and lost. We cherish the thought as a fond 
dream, but how certainly may we depend upon it ? How 
much of evidence is there to sustain it? Let us now 
call up the witnesses for the renewing and the strength- 
ening of our faith. 

I. Our first witness is The Heart. The heart of this 
man or of that man in matters pertaining to the spiritual 
life may throb uncertainly, but the heart of the race beats 
true. Man was made in God's likeness, and there is a 
deep longing in his nature for a return to God. It is 
like the voice of the sea-shell murmuring of the sea. 

All races and generations have held this doctrine of 
recognition in the better life. The Greeks believed it. 
Socrates, with the poisoned cup at his lips, thus dis- 
courses : " If the common expression be true that death 
conveys us to the place of departed men, with delight 
I drink this hemlock, for it sends my spirit to commune 
with Ajax and Palamides." The Romans believed it. 
The hero of the ^Eneid going out into the unseen world 
was greeted by his former friends : 

" The gladsome ghosts in circling troops attend 
And with unwearied eyes behold their friend." 

The Egyptians believed it, else why did they fill their 
dead children's hands with toys and trinkets? and why 
did they inscribe upon the byssus bands the hope of an 
awakening on the morrow ? The Hindoos believe it. In 
the institution of the suttee, as the widow ascends the fune- 
ral pyre she unbinds her hair and makes her last invoca- 
tion to Brahm : " Oh that I might enjoy with my hus- 
band as many joyful years in the better world as there 
are hairs in these flowing braids." 

Our own transcendental poets betray their belief in it : 



SHALL WE KNOW EACH OTHER IN HEAVEN ? 279 

" Somewhere in desolate, wind-swept space, 

In twilight land, in No-man's Land, 
Two hurrying shapes met face to face 

And bade each other stand. 
And * Who are you ?' cried one, agape, 

Shuddering in the gloaming light. 
1 1 do not know/ said the second shape ; 

' I only died last night.' " 

Thus, when we find the pulse of the race it testifies to the 
home-bringing. The heart will brook no denial. It in- 
sists that we shall know each other in the better life. 

II. Our next witness is Reason. And here we stand 
beyond the region of mere sentiment. Reason coun- 
sels us to receive any doctrine which commends itself to 
our best judgment ; let us therefore find the intellectual 
consensus. Here are four links which weld themselves 
into an irrefutable demonstration : 

(1.) Immortality. It would be a superserviceable task 
to undertake here a proof of immortality. We receive it 
as an intuition. It is one of those universal truths which 
assert themselves as axioms, being interwoven with the 
mental constitution of the race. Do you ask, " If a man 
die, shall he live again ?" Listen ! Your whole being calls 
back, " I shall live and not die." We therefore take the 
truth of immortality as a postulate, a starting-point, from 
which we pass on to yet more glorious truths. 

(2.) Identity. This follows immortality as a neces- 
sary sequence. The Ego or self-conscious personality is 
not impaired by death. What is death? "A covered 
bridge leading from light to light through a brief darkness." 
It is a mighty arch with brazen gates sprung over the 
pathway of our life. As one draws nigh, the gates roll 
back on creaking hinges, and then, the momentary an- 
guish over, are closed again. The friends stand weeping 



280 "THE MORNING COMETH." 

here and vainly gazing. One has passed through and 
continues his journey in the brighter, better life. His 
identity is unchanged. No doubt you and I will be 
amazed in the moment after our translation to find how 
like we are to what we were; there will be scarcely a 
break in consciousness. We shall not sink our personali- 
ties. No Nirvana awaits us, no sinking in the pantheistic 
soul, as a drop of water is lost in the unfathomable sea. 
We shall live right on. 

(3.) Memory. There is no Lethe between this world 
and the hereafter. There can be none, else our identity 
would cease, for memory is the nexus binding the here 
with the hereafter. We shall doubtless walk together in 
the green pastures of Canaan and review the joys and 
sorrows of our earthly life. A Danish poet tells of a 
glorified spirit who was sent to bring the soul of a little 
girl to heaven. While winging his way with his precious 
charge, the child saw a rose-tree in his hand and asked 
the meaning of it. The angel replied that once upon a 
time there was a poor lad in the city they had left who 
lay for a long while dying. That rose-tree was the one 
solace of his loneliness; it filled the sick chamber with 
its fragrance and spoke of the coming spring. And now, 
at his desire, the flower was to be transplanted to Para- 
dise. Then the child looked up into the angel's face and 
asked, 

" * How knowest thou this, bright power?* 

Then splendidly he smiled : 
1 Should I not know my flower ? 

I was that sickly child.'" 

Ay, we shall remember there. The old home, the tree 
by the doorway, the well-sweep, the path leading through 
the meadow, the far-away sound of the school-bell — we 



SHALL WE KNOW EACH OTHER IN HEAVEN? 28 1 

remember them here, and in glory they will still abide 
with us. 

(4.) Recognition. This completes the four-linked 
chain of evidence — immortality, identity, memory, recog- 
nition. The first involves the last. If there is to be a 
heaven at all, we shall certainly know each other there. 

At a country fair in New England the militia had come 
from many surrounding towns and the parade was to be 
led by old-time musicians. A gray-haired drummer had 
taken his place and a decrepit fifer beside him, veterans of 
the war of 181 2, but quite unknown to each other. They 
led the march with the martial tunes of long ago. At last 
the fifer struck up a tune wherein his comrade did not 
follow him. The fire kindled in the drummer's eyes and 
for a moment he held his drumsticks motionless. Then 
approaching the fifer he pushed back the cap from his 
gray hair and with flashing eyes cried, "John, yeVe 
played that before ; ye played it at Lundy's Lane ! I 
mind ye. I played the drum beside ye that day. Man, 
where have ye been, where have ye been ?" Ah, there 
will be times in heaven when we, walking in the golden 
streets, shall hear the sound of familiar voices or a strain 
of music or shall catch glimpses of faces that were famil- 
iar long ago. And there will be greetings and hand- 
claspings and the past will live again. 

III. We turn now to the court of last appeal, the 
Holy Scriptures, For when the heart and reason have 
borne their utmost testimony it yet remains for us to make 
sure, doubly sure, by turning to the oracles of God. The 
truth of the whole Scriptures, so far as they have reference 
to the eternal life, is hypothecated upon the fact of immor- 
tality with all its logical sequences. This recognition of 
the saints would stand in Scripture even if there were no 



282 "THE MORNING COMETH/* 

" thus saith the Lord." But the direct testimony is plain 
and clear. 

(i.) This truth is implied in all passages that refer to 
heaven as a home ', the Father's house with many man- 
sions, the household of the people of God. What makes a 
home ? Four walls and a roof? Tapestries and pictures ? 
Nay ! the presence of our dear ones. What sort of a 
heaven would that be where the members of the family 
would not know each other? A devout man, on being 
asked if he expected to know his favorite sister in the 
after-world, said that he expected to be so continually 
occupied with the beauty of the Bright and Morning Star 
that she might remain for ages at his side and he not 
notice her. In that reply there was a vast amount of 
pious ignorance. Is there any incompatibility between 
our love for the great Father and our love for our own 
dear ones? Is there any incongruity between the first 
and second of the great commandments ? A man may 
love the Lord with all his soul and yet love his human 
friends with a pure heart .fervently. Nay, more, the love 
of God is perfected in us only when we thus love one an- 
other. Our kinships and our friendships are as eternal 
as the Father's love. 

(2.) This truth is furthermore implied in all passages 
which speak of the dead as having rejoijied the saints tri- 
umphanty as where Abraham and others of the patriarchs 
are said to have been " gathered unto their fathers " or 
" gathered unto their people." Some have supposed this 
to mean that they were buried, so to speak, in the family 
burying-ground. This, however, was not the case with 
Abraham, whose body slept in an isolated grave, or of 
Moses, who slept in the mountain, and of whom it is writ- 
ten, " No man knoweth of his sepulchre unto this day." 



SHALL WE KNOW EACH OTHER IN HEAVEN? 283 

All such statements must have reference not to the body- 
but to the soul, and they point to the reunion of the saints. 

(3.) In passages which speak of heaven as a feast 
Did you ever sit at table with a company when you were 
acquainted with only your host, and if so, was it not a chil- 
ly experience ? And shall we so look forward to the mar- 
riage feast whereat we are to celebrate the nuptials of the 
King's Son ? Of that festive occasion the Lord said, 
" They shall come from the east and the west and the 
north and the south and sit down with Abraham and 
Isaac in the kingdom." If the inhabitants are to know 
those ancient worthies why shall they not also recognize 
others who are nearer and dearer than they ? 

(4.) In all passages respecting the judgment. We are 
to be called to account at the great day for all sins done 
in the body. But it is manifestly needful, in the adminis- 
tration of justice, that the culprit shall know himself to be 
the evil-doer. We can neither be justly punished nor re- 
warded unless we can look back upon our good or evil 
deeds. In the Tichborne trial it was the question of 
identity that determined whether the claimant should 
have an inheritance or a term in prison. So the thought 
of judgment loses all its significance if our personal iden- 
tity and memory of the past be eliminated from it. 

(5.) In the story of David's bereavement. How simple 
and touching are the words ! " Is the child dead ?" he 
said to his servants. And they answered, " He is dead." 
Then David arose from the earth and washed and 
anointed himself and changed his apparel and came into 
the house of the Lord and worshipped : then he came to 
his own house, and he required and they set bread before 
him, and he did eat. Then said his servants unto him, 
" What thing is this that thou hast done ? Thou didst fast 



284 "THE MORNING COMETH." 

and weep for the child while it was alive ; but when the 
child was dead, thou didst rise and eat bread." And he 
said, " While the child was yet alive I fasted and wept, for 
I said, Who can tell whether God will be gracious to me, 
that the child may live ? But now he is dead, wherefore 
should I fast? can I bring him back again? I shall go 
to him, but he shall not return to me." 

(6.) In the account of the transfiguration of our Lord. 
Here were two persons who had lived in centuries far 
apart and who had been more than a thousand years in 
glory, represented not only as knowing each other, but 
as having a deep and practical interest in the affairs of the 
living, for they spake of the decease which Jesus was to 
accomplish at Jerusalem. 

(7.) In the parable of Dives and Lazarus. The rich 
ipan is represented here as knowing afar off the beggar 
who formerly lay at his gate and as understanding the 
condition of his brethren who were still living on earth. 

(8.) In our text: " Brethren, I would not have you to 
be ignorant concerning them which are asleep, that ye 
sorrow not, even as others which have no hope." Paul is 
writing to the Christians in Thessalonica among whom he 
had labored and whom he regarded as his joy and crown 
at the coming of Christ. He now comforts them respect- 
ing the welfare of their friends, many of whom had for 
the truth's sake been burned, beheaded, sawn asunder, or 
slain by lions. He would not have them sorrow for these 
loved ones "even as others which have no hope," for Christ 
in his gospel had brought life and immortality to light and 
had opened the doors of the Father's house and given 
them a hope that maketh not ashamed. He assures them 
that the time is drawing near when all shall be trans- 
ported to the better life. Those who may be still living 



SHALL WE KNOW EACH OTHER IN HEAVEN ? 285 

at the Lord's coming shall be caught up together with 
their loved ones in the clouds, to meet him, and so shall 
we ever be with the Lord. 

Thus the hope of reunion rests upon the sure testi- 
mony of the divine Word ; herein let us comfort one an- 
other. 

"As for thy friends, they are not lost : 
The several vessels of thy fleet, 
Though parted now, by tempests tossed, 
Shall safely in the haven meet." 

I speak to bereaved husbands and wives, some of 
whom have longed these many years to look into the dear 
absent eyes ; ye do not sorrow as those who are without 
hope. Great was the joy of the espousal ; the joy of the 
reunion shall be greater. 

I speak to motherless children who feel the lingering 
touch of mother's arms, who find themselves, even after 
the lapse of many years, recalling the dear vanished face. 
Oh for a word from mother's lips ! It shall be, bless God ! 
We sorrow not as do those who are without hope. 

I speak to parents who have given their children back 
to God. How dark were the wings of the death angel ! 
But Israfel will make all right. It was a blessed thing 
that happened under the archway at the village of Nain. 
A mother was walking behind the bier whereon lay the 
body of her child. She was a widow, and he her only 
son. Nearing the gate came another procession, Jesus 
and his small retinue of followers. They met beneath the 
gate, those two, life and death. And it is written, " Jesus 
had compassion on her." Oh blessed, pitying heart ! And 
he laid his hand upon the bier and said, " Arise," and the 
lad arose and sat up. And what then ? He " gave him 
unto his mother." In this let us behold a foregleam of 



286 "THE MORNING COMETH/' 

the joy which awaits us in the better life. Oh golden day 
of days when the Lord shall put back the children in 
their mothers' arms ! Verily, verily we do not sorrow as 
those who have no hope. We pass within the shadow, 
but above its gloom is the overarching promise of the 
glorious future. We shall meet again, blessed be God ! 



WE BEHELD HIS GLORY. 287 



WE BEHELD HIS GLORY. 



" And we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only-begotten of the 
Father, full of grace and truth." John 1 : 14. 

St. John was the apostle of the glory of Christ. He 
saw it more clearly than others, doubtless because as the 
beloved disciple he entered into the secret place of his 
Lord's confidence. The heart has perceptions to which 
the mind is oftentimes a stranger. The Virgin Mother, 
also, knew that her son Jesus was more than an ordinary 
man ; this was the secret which as a fond mother she 
" kept in her heart." But she was slow to perceive the 
full meaning of it. Not one of the disciples seemed fully 
to believe on him. It was not until the last journey down 
through Csesarea Philippi that Peter, foremost always, 
was moved to utter the good confession, " Thou art the 
Christ, the Son of the living God !" But the great truth 
came ultimately to them all. Then even doubting Thomas, 
in the presence of his risen Master, was constrained to 
cry, " My Lord and my God !" 

To see the divine glory has ever been the yearning 
desire of earnest men. It is not possible. Can the naked 
eye gaze at the noonday sun? Can a child hold the 
ocean in the hollow of its hand ? Can the finite form a 
conception of the infinite ? Yet this vain longing is proof 
of our divine lineage. So Moses entreated, " Show me 
thy glory !" And God answered, " Hide thyself in the 
cleft of the rock yonder and I will pass by." He hid him- 
self and waited, but all that he heard was the rustle of a 



288 "THE MORNING COMETH." 

garment, all that he saw was a vanishing robe. No man 
has ever seen God and lived. 

It was, however, to meet this fervent desire of the hu- 
man heart that God condescended to give a visible token 
of his real presence. It was the Shechinah, the luminous 
cloud that hovered over the tabernacle and which as pil- 
lar of cloud by day and of fire by night led the children 
of Israel through the wilderness to the land which flowed 
with milk and honey. It rose ever between the wings of 
the angels over the Ark of the Covenant, shadowing the 
mercy-seat where Jehovah had promised to meet his peo- 
ple and commune with them. The Shechinah was no 
longer needed when the only-begotten Son of the Father 
became flesh and dwelt among us. He was its anti-type, 
its glorious fulfilment. Great is the mystery of godli- 
ness, God manifested in the flesh ; the angels desire to 
look into it. 

We have neither the Shechinah nor the Incarnate One, 
we know Christ no more after the flesh, yet his glory lin- 
gers. Is it not strange that of all the procession of the 
mighties who have passed by, not one has wholly escaped 
the twilight of oblivion save this Carpenter of Nazareth ? 
Kings and potentates, sages and philosophers, Caesars 
and Alexanders and Napoleons — their greatness has van- 
ished like the unsubstantial fabric of a dream. Of them 
was it written, " The path of glory leads but to the grave." 
But not so of this Nazarene Carpenter; his name has 
grown brighter with each succeeding age and shall until 
every knee shall bow at the mention of it. 

" No mortal can with him compare 
Among the sons of men ; 
Fairer is he than all the fair 
That fill the heavenly train." 



WE BEHELD HIS GLORY. 289 

The apostle said, " We beheld his glory." We also, 
good friends, have seen it, the glory of Jesus of Nazareth, 
waxing like a crescent from the beginning until now. 
What was the glory that John saw ? What is the glory- 
that gives an unchallenged preeminence to the Carpenter 
of Nazareth over all the earth to-day ? 

I. It was not the glory of an illustrious birth. No 
bells were rung when Prince Immanuel came. He was 
of humble parentage, a child of the people. His boyhood 
was passed in an obscure village in a remote corner of 
the earth. He learned the trade of a carpenter and at 
eventide wiped the sweat of honest toil from his brow. 
There was no halo around his head nor any outward token 
of glory beyond that of other men. 

II. Nor was it the glory of any natural endowment 
such as extraordinary wisdom. He was indeed possessed 
of that. The great themes which reach out into eternity — 
God, immortality, judgment, heaven, hell — themes which 
the sages and philosophers had avoided or treated with 
the utmost diffidence, he boldly confronted — he, an untu- 
tored handworker. And when he touched these problems 
he solved them. His teaching was characterized by the 
utmost simplicity. There is much turgid prolixity in the 
philosophical discussions of our time. Goldsmith said 
to Dr. Johnson, "You make your little fishes talk like 
whales." This is our fault, and men foster it by their 
foolish fondness for a seeming profundity which is mere 
bathos. This Jesus used no sesquipedalian words. He 
set forth the sublimities in terms so plain that a wayfaring 
man, however foolish, need not err in them. And he 
spake with the might and power of an original author- 
ity ; not like the scribes, who were mere empyrics, but 
like one who had dwelt in the midst of those glorious re- 

19 



29O "THE MORNING COMETH." 

alities of which he testified from personal knowledge. 
His word was, " Verily, verily, I say unto you." He 
waved aside the wisdom of all the rabbis who had gone 
before him. " Ye have heard how it was said by them of 
olden time " thus and so, " but / say unto you." I ! 
Who is this that speaks in such presumptuous terms ? The 
Carpenter of Nazareth. Yet his words have outlived all 
the wisdom of the wise, and now, nineteen hundred years 
having passed, they wield the commanding influence 
among men and nations. As a teacher of divine truth 
this man from the carpenter shop of Nazareth stands sol- 
itary and alone. The world assents to the judgment of 
the officers sent by the Sanhedrin to arrest him, " Never 
man spake like this man." 

Nevertheless this was not the glory which John saw, 
nor can it account for his preeminent place in history 
until this day. 

III. Nor was it the glory of power. He was indeed 
possessed of power beyond all other men, insomuch that 
he said, "All power is given unto me." 

He had an absolute command of nature. Xerxes 
scourged the- stormy waves and they roared back defiant 
laughter. Jesus said, " Peace, be still !" and like naughty 
children they sobbed themselves to sleep before him. 
At his reproachful word the fig-tree withered; in his 
hands the loaves were multiplied that the hungry might 
be fed. He went down to the marriage at Cana : 
" The conscious water, touched by grace divine, 
Confessed its Lord and blushed itself to wine." 

Not less absolute was his authority over men. To the 
fishermen by the lakeside, to the tax-gatherer at the re- 
ceipt of customs, he said, " Follow me !" and as if moved 
by some mesmeric or hypnotic influence they straightway 



WE BEHELD HIS GLORY. 29 1 

arose and followed him. And multitudes have been 
doing it ever since. He spoke of the heavenly grace in 
hearing of the Magdalene, and she, her garments bedrag- 
gled in vice and her heart filled with unutterable shame, 
came and wept before him. He spoke to the children, 
and they came clambering upon his knees ; he spoke to 
the unclean spirits who had taken possession of the de- 
moniac, and lo ! he sat at the Lord's feet clothed and in 
his right mind. He called aloud at the grave's mouth, 
"Come forth! "and the sheeted dead arose to newness 
of life. 

In all these visible tokens of the mightiness of Jesus we 
are impressed with the thought of reserve power. His mira- 
cles told not so much of what he did as of what he might 
do. There was the hiding of strength. When they came 
with lanterns and staves and spears to Gethsemane he 
said, " Whom seek ye ?" They answered, " Jesus of Naza- 
reth." And at his words, " I am he !" they went back- 
ward and fell to the ground. Was this because there was 
for a moment a breaking forth of his secret power ? Had 
they touched the live wire of Omnipotence ? In any case, 
such a manifestation befitted him who made the supreme 
claim, "All power is given unto me." 

Nevertheless this was not the glory of which John 
spoke, nor is it the memory of this manifestation of power 
that gives to Jesus his conspicuous place as the greatest 
of earth's mighties. 

IV. Was it kis extraordi?iary goodness ? Here in- 
deed he stood solitary and alone. He was not conscious 
of sin. No confession of sin ever fell from his lips. Adam 
hid himself among the trees of the garden because he was 
ashamed. David cried, " Have mercy upon me, O God, 
according to thy loving-kindness; according unto the 



292 "THE MORNING COMETH." 

multitude of thy tender mercies blot out my transgres- 
sions. Wash me thoroughly from mine iniquity, and 
cleanse me from my sin. For I acknowledge my trans- 
gressions and my sin is ever before me." Isaiah ex- 
claimed, " Woe is me, for I am a man of unclean lips !" 
Paul was overwhelmed with contrition : " Oh wretched 
man that I am, who will deliver me from the body of this 
death !" But Jesus sent forth this challenge, " Which of 
you convinceth me of sin?" 

If a single flaw had been found in his life and charac- 
ter, if the search-light of criticism through these centuries 
had been able to detect so much even as a suggestion 
of a single sin or ill-considered word or selfish deed, 
the whole fabric of the Christian faith would have fallen 
asunder, for it rests upon the absolute perfectness of 
the character of this Jesus. But the world unites in 
the confession made by the centurion who had 
charge of his crucifixion, " Verily, this was a righteous 
man." 

Nor was this merely negative goodness. All the posi- 
tive graces of character were bound together in him. 
Name any attribute of a noble life, and lo ! he had it in 
perfection. He was/^r excellence the Son of man, i. e., 
the ideal of manhood. His biography was written in 
eloquent words, " He went about doing good." He 
showed forth kindness towards all, his friends and his ene- 
mies, drabs, thieves, lepers, God's poor and the devil's 
poor — to all alike and impartially. He deserved the 
tribute which Renan, his infidel biographer, has paid to 
him : " Whatever may be the surprises of the future, Jesus 
will never be surpassed. His worship will grow young 
without ceasing ; his legend will call forth tears without 
end ; his sufferings will melt the noblest hearts ; all ages 



WE BEHELD HIS GLORY. 293 

will proclaim that among the sons of men there is none 
born greater than Jesus." 

But the glory which the apostle saw in Him and the 
glory which all believers have seen in Him since the be- 
ginning of the Christian era was something more than 
this, something more than adventitious greatness which 
natural or supernatural powers and grace could confer 
upon him. 

V. We beheld His glory as of the only -begotten of the 
Father, He had nothing less than the glory of Godhood. 
He was the only-begotten of the Father. His glory was 
like that of the Shechinah, at once the shining forth and 
the adumbration of deity. He was God manifest in flesh. 
To attribute to Jesus all the foregoing tokens of greatness 
while denying him this divineness, this glory as of the 
only-begotten of the Father, is to fall infinitely short of 
the truth. 

He claimed to be very God of very God. His claim 
was verified at his birth by the singing of the angels ; at 
his baptism by the voice from heaven ; at his transfigura- 
tion by the enfolding cloud which was again the She- 
chinah, the excellent glory, and the voice saying, " This is 
my beloved Son ;" at his death by the shrouding of the 
heavens and the rocking of the earth ; at his resurrection 
by the breaking of the bands of death when he took cap- 
tivity captive ; at his ascension when he arose with up- 
lifted hands and vanished from sight leaving his benedic- 
tion upon the world ; at Pentecost when there came a 
baptism of fire and of power because Jesus had breathed 
upon his disciples ; and all along history by innumerable 
miracles of grace, for he still walks up and down our 
thoroughfares opening blind eyes, wiping away the scales 
of leprosy, dispossessing those who have been demented 



294 "THE MORNING COMETH." 

by unclean spirits, and raising the dead. This is the 
glory of Jesus of Nazareth, the glory as of the only-be- 
gotten of the Father. 

VI. But why this shining forth of glory ? It is surely 
not for the mere gratification of the curious ? At this 
point we come upon two significant words, grace and 
truth. This only-begotten of the Father was full of grace 
and truth. 

His coming to the earth was to show the grace of God 
to usward. He brought the message, " God so loved the 
world that he gave his only-begotten Son, that whosoever 
believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting 
life." As the Shechinah led the children of Israel out of 
the land of Egypt, out of the house of their bondage, so 
did this living anti-type of the Shechinah, the only-be- 
gotten of the Father, come to deliver our ruined race 
from the bondage of spiritual and eternal death. 

The word truth > here, characterizes our Lord's devo- 
tion to this work. Aletheia is a large word ; it means 
more than veracity. It means loyalty to a noble purpose. 
It means an unswerving devotion to a supreme object of 
life. So we say of a man, sometimes, he is true as steel, 
he is true as the needle to the pole. So true was Jesus 
to his errand of grace. He never forgot it, he never 
swerved from it. Perhaps he might have chosen an 
easier path, but in that he would not have been a true 
man. He set his face steadfastly towards the cross. He 
never flinched. In the beginning he offered himself to 
bring a message of amnesty to the world. As he set forth 
he caught up the hand-writing of ordinances which was 
against us, the decree, " The soul that sinneth it shall die." 
It was his purpose to erase that decree with blood and 
nail it to his cross. For thirty weary years he was ever 



WE BEHELD HIS GLORY. 295 

mindful of his mission. With that grim death -sentence 
in his hand he ran the gauntlet of men and devils. They 
reviled him and spit upon him — on he ran ; they scourged 
him, they loaded him with shame and obloquy — on he 
ran, until he reached the hilltop outside the walls of the 
Holy City, and there, while they nailed him to the cross, 
he delivered his message of grace; while his enemies 
seemed to be nailing him to the accursed tree he w r as 
blotting out the handwriting of ordinances which was 
against us with his own precious blood and nailing it to 
his cross. (Col. 2 : 14.) 

His work was done, his glory — the glory of the only- 
begotten of the Father — was perfected in this message of 
grace. And then the heavens opened. A retinue of 
angels met him and bore him back to the glory which he 
had with the Father before the world was. " Lift up 
your heads, O ye gates," they cried, " and be ye lift up, 
ye everlasting doors, and let the King of Glory enter in." 
He was dead, but liveth and is alive for evermore, and 
ever maketh intercession for us. 

"The head that once was crowned with thorns 
Is crowned with glory now." 

And meanwhile, here on earth, his name grows brighter 
with every passing year. The story of his work in our 
behalf is finding its way to the hearts of the children of 
men. Wherefore God hath given him the NAME which 
is above every name : that at the name of Jesus every 
knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, 
and things under the earth ; and that every tongue should 
confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God 
the Father. (Phil. 2 : 10.) 



296 "THE MORNING COMETH." 

JUDAS ISCARIOT; OR THE FLOWER, 
FRUIT, AND ASHES OF SIN. 



"And Judas Iscariot, which also betrayed him." Mark 3: 19. 

" Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God 
cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man: 
but every man is tempted when lie is drawn away of his own 
lust and enticed. Then when lust hath conceived, it bring- 
eth forth sin, and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death." 
James 1:13-15. 

What y s in a name ? Much every way. An army of 
lads have been called "John" and " Peter" and "James," 
but was ever a lad named for Judas Iscariot ? The world 
abhors the memory of that man. And rightly so. As 
friendship is the most genial, gratitude the most humane, 
and loyalty the most heroic of the graces, so is treachery 
the basest and meanest of crimes. In the three lists of 
the disciples this Judas is always mentioned with the 
stigma, " which also betrayed him." He has come down 
through the centuries bearing that scarlet letter on his 
breast. 

His biography is the story of the evolution of death. 
Yet he was once an infant in a fond mother's arms. He 
played with other boys in the streets of Kerioth and his 
laughter was as innocent and merry as theirs. He 
dreamed the dreams and saw the visions which are com- 
mon to those who stand on the verge of young manhood. 
Then into that life came the figure of Jesus. The word 
was spoken, u Follow me." A man whom Jesus thus meets 
is never quite the same after it. This is the pivotal episode 



JUDAS ISCARIOT. 297 

in every life. The issues of eternity are involved in it. 
This man of Kerioth heeded the voice of Jesus and rose 
up and followed him. 

We mark from this time onward three stages in the 
development of evil. They are given by the apostle 
James in these words, "And lust, when it hath conceived, 
bringeth forth sin ; and sin, when it is finished, bringeth 
forth death." There is a tree in the Orient which bears a 
crimson blossom before putting forth foliage — a flower so 
deadly that the bees in search of sweetness, dipping into 
it, fall dead. The fruit of this tree is a gall-apple which 
at ripeness is filled with a bitter dust. It is appropriately 
called the Judas tree, and it is an apologue of the self- 
propagating power of evil — the blossom, the fruit, and the 
ashes of it. 

I. The blossom of the Judas tree is lust. The word 
has an uncanny sound. In Scripture, however, its refer- 
ence is usually to inordinate desire of any sort. 

(1.) Avarice, or the inordinate desire for money. It is 
written of Judas that " he bare the bag." There is no 
reason to say that money of itself is other than good. 
But the love of it is a root of all evil. 

" Gold ! gold ! gold ! gold ! 
Bright and yellow, hard and cold, 
Molten, graven, hammered, and rolled ; 
Heavy to get and light to hold ; 
Hoarded, bartered, bought, and sold, 
Stolen, borrowed, squandered, doled : 
Spurned by the young, but hugged by the old 
To the very verge of the church-yard mould ; 
Price of many a crime untold : 
Gold! gold! gold! gold! 
Good or bad a thousand-fold ! 
How widely its agencies vary, 



298 "THE MORNING COMETH." 

To save, to ruin, to curse, to bless, 
As even its minted coins express, 
Now stamped with the image of good Queen Bess, 
And now of a Bloody Mary. 5 ' 

Whether our money — much or little — shall prove a bless- 
ing or a curse, depends on our way of regarding and 
of using it. Money will kindle a fire to warm the blue 
hands of poverty or to burn up truth, virtue, love, and all 
the noblest passions of the heart. Money will provide 
bread for the widow and the fatherless, or glut the soul 
and body with brutish vices. Money, if rightly used, will 
make the wildernesses of this world to blossom like the 
rose ; or, if wrongly used, will scorch the greenest mead- 
ows and exile their possessors to Azazel for ever. " How 
widely its agencies vary !" Take heed and beware how 
you covet it ; take heed and beware how you use it. 

(2.) Sensuality, or the inordinate desire of pleasure. 
The sensual man is one who lives under the domination 
of his senses. His noblest pursuit is self-gratification. 
The end of that man is disappointment and shame. The 
Greeks had a temple of pleasure which was entered by 
a magnificent doorway where lights gleamed and min- 
strels played and sang. From within came sounds of 
music and of dancing. But at the rear of this temple was 
a wicket gate opening into a swine-yard. The end of 
pleasure-seeking is not satisfaction but satiety. The bac- 
chanal is thrust forth, stripped and despoiled, into shame 
and contempt. His substance wasted, he sits in the 
swine-field alone with his shame and poverty. 

(3.) Ambition, or the overweening love of earthly 
honor. This is the weakness of the noblest minds. No 
passion is so insatiable ; death only ends it. Do you re- 
member the dream of Alexander the Great at the door- 



JUDAS ISCARIOT. 299 

way of paradise ? There he besought a blessing. The 
warder gave him a concave disk of bone, an empty eye- 
socket, saying, "This hath passion infinite, but a little dust 
will cover it. Control thyself, O king !" He went his 
way and placed the hollow disk in a scale. Vainly he 
sought to weigh it down with gold, more gold, and still 
more gold. He threw in precious stones and jewels, urns 
and chalices — in vain ! threw in his purple robes, his 
crown, but still in vain. Then he bethought himself of 
the word, " a little dust will cover it." A handful of dust 
was thrown into the scale and the eye-socket went up 
like a feather. The lesson is that the paths of glory lead 
but to the grave. All desire of sordid gain ends at the 
border-line of eternity. A handful of graveyard mould 
will cover it. 

II. The fruit of the fudas tree is sin. Lust, when it 
hath conceived, bringeth forth sin. 

The taste of the sacramental wine and bread was on 
the lips of the man of Kerioth when he went out of the 
upper chamber and betook himself to the Hall of Caiaphas. 
There he bargained with the rulers to betray his Lord for 
thirty pieces of silver. They were eager to receive him. 
This was the very chance for which they had waited 
long. 

" When," they asked him, " wilt thou deliver him into 
our hands?" 

" This very night." 

"And where?" 

" He is on his way, at this moment, to the garden of 
the oil-press, on the slope of Olivet. I know the place 
well. He is accustomed to resort thither for meditation 
and prayer. I will lead you." 

They set forth, guards, rabbis, and a mob with swords 



300 •" THE MORNING COMETH. 

and staves and lanterns. The traitor was in front. He led 
them at a quick pace down the path to the Kedron and up 
along the slope of the opposite hill. They entered the gate 
of the garden. There Judas turned and said, " Whomso- 
ever I shall kiss, the same is he ; hold him fast." And so 
they passed on until they came to the grove of the oil- 
press. In the dim light of the moon they saw him yonder, 
and Judas, rushing headlong to his ruin, drew near and 
threw his arms about him. " Hail, Master !" he cried, 
and kissed him. The word here used is that of a lover 
and a maid — he kissed him eagerly, again and again. In 
that kiss his crime reached its consummation. It marked 
a sin against light, a sin against warning. It was treach- 
ery, it was lese majeste, it was guilt of the deepest, dark- 
est dye. 

Let us not mistake, however, in thinking of this as an 
isolated crime. It was indeed a unique opportunity which 
came to Judas Iscariot thus to betray the innocent Son of 
God. In that he stands alone, yet all sin has in it the 
essence of treachery against Christ. So the writer of the 
Epistle to the Hebrews speaks of certain ones who by 
persistence in evil-doing " crucify the Lord afresh and 
put him to an open shame." 

" Alas for me, the guilt is mine 
Whene'er against thy will benign 

My treacherous heart hath stood ; 
Mine are the lips that have betrayed, 
Mine is the debt which must be paid 
With groans and tears and blood. " 

III. The ashes of the Judas tree are death. This is 
the gall-apple. Sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth 
death. The sentence of the traitor is recorded in the 
words, " It were better for him had he never been born." 



JUDAS ISCARIOT. 301 

Once only has that inscription been put upon the tomb of 
a human being. In other similar cases the veil of the 
awful future is not lifted. Of this traitor it is said, " He 
went unto his own place." 

In the brief portion of his life that followed his ultimate 
resolution to betray Jesus we catch three glimpses of his 
face : once when he hurried from the upper chamber " and 
it was night." In the Wiertz gallery at Brussels there is 
a picture of this man wandering about on that dreadful 
night. He has come upon a group of workmen who, 
wearied by their labors, have fallen asleep. The light of 
the moon falls upon their quiet faces. The features of 
Judas are distorted with evil passion. He catches sight 
of the cross lying on the ground, the carpenters' tools 
beside them. He clutches his money-bag and hurries on. 

Again, at the doorway to the Hall Gazith where the 
rabbis are in session. He may not enter. He pauses at 
the doorway for a moment, his face haggard and con- 
vulsed with an unspeakable despair. With the cry, " I 
have betrayed innocent blood !" he hurls the thirty pieces 
of silver down upon the marble floor. His heart and 
conscience are on fire. He hurries out again into the 
night. 

Once more, at the field Aceldama; the body of the 
traitor hangs from the bough of a tree over the deep abyss 
of Hinnom. We may not linger for a moment here. Sin, 
when it is finished, bringing forth death. The owls in the 
clefts are hooting, " Fool, fool, that he did not know it !" 
The weird winds are moaning through the boughs, " O 
fool, not to have known that the wages of sin is death !" 

Two words, by way of application. One is a word of 
warning. Let him who would avoid the mortal sin take 
heed and beware of the beginnings of it. When Pompey 



302 "THE MORNING COMETH." 

could not prevail upon a certain city to billet his army he 
besought the people to let in a poor maimed soldier for 
the night. That night the maimed soldier opened the 
gates and admitted the army. An illicit desire has in it 
the promise and potency of mortal sin. 

The other word is one of glorious hope and promise. 
We have reason to believe that if Judas Iscariot, at any 
moment before his death, had sought God's mercy he 
would have found it. 

" Betwixt the saddle and the ground 
Mercy sought is mercy found." 

Not even the sin of Judas was beyond pardon. God is a 
great Forgiver, willing to forgive unto the uttermost all 
who come unto him. In this life it is never too late to 
mend. As I live, saith the Lord, I have no pleasure in 
the death of the wicked, but that all should turn and live. 
Turn ye ! turn ye ! for why will ye die ? 

If mere sorrow for ill-doing could give assurance of 
absolution, we might believe that even Judas had it. But 
his regret appears to have been for the consequences of 
his guilt and not for his guilt itself as an offence against a 
holy God. The sin of Peter in denying Jesus was in many 
points akin with that of the wretched traitor. He also 
was overwhelmed with remorse, insomuch that he went 
out and wept bitterly. But his tears were mingled with 
faith. He so believed in the pardoning grace of Jesus that 
he could not be driven to despair. He sought the pres- 
ence of his Lord and cried in deepest contrition, " Thou 
knowest that I love thee !" The old monk Staupitz said 
to Luther, overwhelmed with shame, " The true repent- 
ance is that which drives the soul to God." 

No matter, friend, how heavy the burden of guilt that 



JUDAS ISCARIOT. 303 

weighs upon thee, God is a great Forgiver. " Come 
now," he saith, "and let us reason together; though your 
sins be as scarlet, they shall be whiter than snow ; though 
they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool." He 
waits to be gracious. He waits to see thee sobbing at his 
feet that he may speak the word of pardon, " Son ! daugh- 
ter ! thy sins be forgiven thee !" 



304 "THE MORNING COMETH. 



AHAB'S HARNESS. 



"And a certain man drew a bow at a venture, and smote the King of 
Israel between the joints of the harness ; wherefore he said 
unto the driver of his chariot, Turn thine hand, and carry me 
out of the host ; for I am wounded." i Kings 22:34. 

There is something good in every man. It is written 
of Ahab, the son of Omri, that " he did evil in the sight of 
the Lord above all that were before him." And yet he 
was a splendid man in many ways — not without noble im- 
pulses, bold to the verge of desperation, and enterprising 
in matters pertaining to the public prosperity. It is not 
surprising that despite his conspicuous weaknesses and 
the divine chastisement upon them, the kingdom flourished 
under his administration. He had one fault which was 
the bitter fountain of all his woes, namely, he had no reli- 
gion. There were splendid possibilities of influence and 
usefulness in this man which were never realized be- 
cause of his lack of moral conviction. So when he took 
to wife Jezebel, the daughter of Eth-Baal, and when she 
proposed to introduce the worship of her pagan gods, he 
did not oppose her wishes. The new Court Establishment 
was introduced with great pomp and circumstance. The 
king was quite willing to farm out all religious matters to 
his wife, who was ever his evil genius. 

When the Syrian king challenged him to conflict at 
Ramoth-Gilead he gave no thought to the God of Israel, 
but, buckling on his harness, set forth. But for the flaws 
in his armor all might have gone well. In vain did the 
Syrians search the ranks of Israel for the commanding 



AHAB'S HARNESS. 305 

figure of the king. But alas, an arrow shot at a venture 
found him. " Carry me out of the battle/' he cried, " for 
I am wounded !" The shaft was withdrawn, but the harm 
was done. He died at the going down of the sun. 

We observe in Ahab a type of character. There are 
men of generous native endowment and liberal culture, 
of magnanimous impulse and high ambition, who but 
for their lack of religion would make a glorious success 
of life. Their reliance is upon their high sense of honor. 
They run well so long as there is nothing to hinder them. 
They are beloved by their friends and respected by all 
who know them. 

We are at this time passing through a period of finan- 
cial depression. There is trouble in Wall Street, and Wall 
Street, the palpitating heart of American financial life, 
makes its trouble felt in every city in the land. Banks are 
closing, great corporations are going down under sudden 
stress. The loss of wealth is not so deplorable, were it not 
attended by so immense a loss of character. We hear on 
every hand of thefts, embezzlements and doubtful trans- 
actions, and of trusts betrayed. Men who have mingled 
in the busy throng for half a century, with never a stain 
upon their reputation, are hiding themselves for shame. 
As their troubles multiplied upon them they were unable 
to resist temptation to evil. One stroke of the pen, per- 
haps, might save them. It was done. The arrow thus 
found the joint in their harness. Scores of men, hitherto 
panoplied in pride of honor, are worse than dead at the 
going down of the sun. 

It is a serious thing to live, for life is conflict. It is 

well that we should understand this. We wrestle not 

against flesh and blood, but against principalities and 

powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, 

20 



306 "THE MORNING COMETH." 

against wickedness in high places. The world, the 
flesh, and the devil are arrayed against us — the busy, 
sordid world, hurrying us away from the consideration 
of eternal things ; the flesh, ourselves, our own baser na- 
tures ; and the devil, a personal deceiver, against whom 
there is no resistance possible save in the power of the 
living God. It is then a grievous mistake to suppose that 
we can get on without religion. No man can safely lean 
upon his own strength. The sense of manly honor is but 
a feeble reed which breaks under the weight of trial and 
sorrow and pierces through the hand. The armor of the 
unreligious man is sure to fail him. 

I. There is a flaw in the breast-plate ; the breast-plate 
covers the heart, and the heart is the centre of life. At 
this point religion is a sure defence. It sets the heart right 
by cleansing it of sin, and it covers it as with an impen- 
etrable mail. No arrow can enter there. 

II. There is defect in the helmet ; the helmet covers 
the brain, the seat of the mind. The mind sympathizes 
with the heart. Affections and beliefs go together. The 
natural man receiveth not the things of God, neither can 
he, for spiritual things are spiritually discerned. 

Philosophy is aptly defined as a knowledge of the just 
relations of things. The natural man has no true concep- 
tion of his relation to God. He magnifies himself and 
minimizes Jehovah. His eyes are high and his eyelids 
lifted up. If he could catch but a glimpse of God he 
would cry like Isaiah of old, " Woe is me, for I am a man 
of unclean lips and mine eyes have seen the King !" 

The natural man knows not the relative importance of 
character and reputation. He puts the emphasis on the 
outward moralities. " What more is required, " he says, 
" than to be true and honest and pay one's debts, obey 



AHAB'S HARNESS. 307 

the law, and deal fairly with one's fellow-men?" This is 
morality as the world reckons it — the morality which makes 
reputation. But back of reputation, deep grounded in 
a spiritual conception of spiritual truth, lies character. 
The watchword of true manhood is, " To be, not seem 
to be." 

The natural man discerns not the just ratio of time to 
eternity. He lives in the small circle of this present life. 
But if we are immortal, then time is only as the flight of 
the eagle overhead, while eternity stretches out like the 
boundless sea. Life here is a handbreadth ; life yonder 
is endless as the lifetime of God. This and kindred truths 
lie beyond the ken of the unreligious. They receive them 
not, neither indeed can they, for their minds are not illu- 
mined by the Spirit, and the chance arrow enters the 
weak helmet. 

III. An open visor. The visor covers the eyes. As 
the eyes are to the natural body, directing one's steps, so 
is conscience to the soul. But conscience again sympa- 
thizes with heart and mind. If the affections are wrong, 
if there is no right understanding of moral truth, then the 
conscience is also untrustworthy. The man who puts his 
confidence in himself alone is ever in danger, like the 
sophists, of " making the worse appear the better reason." 
The force of moral distinctions is disturbed by considera- 
tions of self-interest. The highest aphorism of this man 
is, " Honesty is the best policy," which makes policy or 
self-interest the supreme thing. 

It is saddening to observe how many of our most 
reputable men are wont to take refuge in evil-doing under 
the shield of great corporations. It is true that corpora- 
tions are soulless, but their affairs are administered by 
men of immortal souls. And were it not for a melancholy 



308 "THE MORNING COMETH." 

default of conscience, the stockholders of our great trusts 
and monopolies must perforce regard themselves as re- 
sponsible for their ill-doing. Be not partakers of other 
men's sins. 

A similar token of the untrustworthiness of a personal 
sense of honor in matters pertaining to conscience may 
be seen in the present conduct of the press. Its editors, as 
a rule, are respectable men, yet taking advantage of their 
impersonal position, they often array themselves against 
measures directed at the purification of political and social 
life. In their individual affairs they would recoil from the 
violation of a law or the breach of a contract, and yet, with 
scarcely an exception, they uphold the Directorate of the 
Columbian Fair who have been guilty just there. It ap- 
pears that the conscience of the man who sets religion 
aside is not to be trusted in the thick of conflict. The 
chance arrow enters at his eyes. 

IV. A loose girdle. In the olden time, at the sound of 
the tocsin, the order was given to tighten the girdle, and 
so strengthen the loins. This girdle corresponds with the 
will. But the will sympathizes with heart and brain and 
conscience. The natural man is wont to trust to his 
resolution ; yet how often it occurs that when most needed, 
resolution fails. 

The most suggestive proof of the weakness of the hu- 
man will is in the so-called Keely Cure for inebriety. We 
were accustomed to say to the inebriate, " If you would 
conquer your habit, lay hold on God;" and we were an- 
swered, " I can do this thing myself; all depends upon 
the power of resolution. Where there is a will there is a 
way." Now, however, on all hands there is an appeal to 
something beyond the province of the will. 

It must needs be that a man who has fallen under the 



ahab's harness. 309 

domination of a habit shall have help from without, for 
the conflict is one of self against self. We go out against 
our darling sins. A soldier who had fought valiantly in 
many battles met one day at close quarters an enemy 
the sight of whose face paralyzed his arm. It was his 
own brother. He could not fire at him ! But how much 
more difficult it is for a man to contend against himself! 
We need the strengthening of the Mighty One. O God 
hold thou me up ! 

V. No shield. The shield covered the whole person 
from head to foot. The shield of the believer is faith. 
Here is the secret of his defence : he believes in God as 
his Creator, w r ho breathed into his nostrils the breath of 
life ; he believes in God as his Preserver, caring for him 
as He cares for the flowers of the field and the birds of 
the air ; he believes in God as his Saviour, who came to 
suffer and to die for his deliverance from sin ; he believes in 
God as his Sanctifier, who stands ever near strengthening, 
emboldening, and building him up in character by giving 
him a practical acquaintance with truth and righteous- 
ness-; he believes in God as his Sovereign, competent to 
rule over and able to protect him. We are told that 
there is an epidemic of suicide at this time. If the soul is 
without the defence of faith, if it has no strong confidence 
in God and truth and morality, what shall hinder the 
reckless deed — 

" Mad from life's history, 
Glad to death s mystery 
Swift to be hurled — 
Anywhere, anywhere, out of the world !" 

VI. No sword. The sword of the Spirit is the Word 
of God. He is an unarmed man who trusts to mere 



3io 

opinion and conjecture. Our effective weapon is a 
" Thus saith the Lord." Our Saviour when tempted in 
the wilderness thus defended himself. " Cause that these 
stones shall be made bread," said his adversary. " No," 
he answered, " it is written, Man shall not live by bread 
alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth 
of God." "Behold the kingdoms," said the tempter; 
"all these shall be thine if thou wilt but fall down and 
worship me." " No," said Jesus, " it is written, Thou shalt 
worship the Lord thy God." " Cast thyself down," said 
the Evil One, " for he shall give his angels charge over 
thee." " No," answered our Saviour, " // is written, Thou 
shalt not tempt the Lord thy God." The sword of the 
Spirit which was flashed so effectively in the wilderness 
that day is an effective weapon to-day for every one who 
will use it. 

Thus it is seen that the panoply of the natural man 
who is without religion is defective at every point. It 
may indeed serve him for a season, but it fails at the crit- 
ical moment. Has this been your dependence, good 
friend ? And have you found it vain ? What shall be 
done ? Come to the Lord's citadel and prepare yourself 
for life's conflict. " Take unto you the whole armor of 
God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and 
having done all, to stand. Stand, therefore, having your 
loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate 
of righteousness, and your feet. shod with the prepara- 
tion of the gospel of peace ; above all, taking the shield 
of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery 
darts of the wicked. And take the helmet of salvation, 
and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God." 
Eph. 6: 13-17. 

And then watch and pray ! The need of watchfulness 



AHAB'S HARNESS. 311 

lies in the fact that we are not yet fully free from the 
bondage of our sin. If we have trusted in Jesus, our pan- 
oply cannot be pierced, the gates of hell shall not prevail 
against us ; but it may be dented and we may be hard be- 
stead. Watch, therefore, lest ye be brought into shame 
and sorrow by reason of sin. 

And pray, pray without ceasing. 

" Prayer is the Christian's vital breath, 
The Christian's native air, 
His watchword at the gates of death : 
He enters heaven by prayer." 

So panoplied and armed, fight the good fight of faith, 
lay hold on eternal life, and God's grace be with you ! 



312 "THE MORNING COMETH. 



THE SONG OF THE YINEYARD. 



" Judge, I pray you, betwixt me and my vineyard. What could have 
been done more to my vineyard that I have not done in it ?" 
Isa. 5:3. 

The reign of Uzziah was marked by peace and pros- 
perity. His name means the " strength of Jehovah/' and 
surely God helped him. The wild Arab tribes were sub- 
dued, the Amorites were forced to pay tribute, the fort- 
resses of the Philistines were brought low, the internal 
resources of the kingdom were developed on every side, 
towers were built on the frontiers of the desert, wells were 
digged in the Jordan valley, fields were planted on the 
sunny slopes of Carmel. Thus it is written, " The king 
strengthened himself exceedingly." The dews and rains 
of heaven were not withheld, harvests were plenteous, 
garners were full. But prosperity brought on spiritual 
pride ; true worship declined ; the people, while keeping 
up outward forms of devotion, forsook the Lord. 

Then Isaiah came to admonish them. He stood be- 
tween the pillars of the temple and cried, " Hear, O 
heavens, and give ear, O earth, for the Lord hath spo- 
ken : I have nourished and brought up children, and they 
have rebelled against me. The ox knoweth his owner, 
and the ass his master's crib ; but Israel doth not know, 
my people doth not consider." Isa. 1 : 2, 3. 

Still the formal services of the sanctuary went on ; the 
brazen altar smoked continually and the golden altar sent 
up an unceasing tribute of gratitude. It was the mere 
outward shell of worship, with which God is never pleased. 



THE SONG OF THE VINEYARD. 313 

Again Isaiah lifted his voice in the temple porch : " To 
what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices unto me ? 
saith the Lord ; I am full of the burnt-offerings of rams, 
and the fat of fed beasts. When ye come to appear 
before me, who hath required this at your hand, to tread 
my courts ? Bring no more vain oblations ; incense is 
an abomination unto me ; the new moons and sabbaths, 
the calling of assemblies, I cannot away with. I am weary 
to bear them. When ye spread forth your hands I will 
hide mine eyes from you : yea, when ye make many 
prayers I will not hear; your hands are full of blood. 
Wash you, make you clean ; put away the evil of your 
doings from before mine eyes ; cease to do evil, learn to 
do well." Isa. 1 : 11-17. 

All else failing, the Lord resorted to chastisement, blow 
upon blow : the visitation of locusts, the drought, the 
earthquake, in which the valleys were cleft asunder and 
the mountains were melted as in a furnace. Again the 
prophet lifted up his voice : " Why should ye be stricken 
any more? The whole head is sick and the whole heart 
faint. Your country is desolate, your cities burned with 
fire, and the daughter of Zion is left as a cottage in a vine- 
yard, as a lodge in a garden of cucumbers. Come now, 
and let us reason together, saith the Lord : though your 
sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow ; though 
they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool. If ye be 
willing and obedient, ye shall eat the good of the land. 
The mouth of the Lord hath spoken it." 

It w r as on one of these frequent occasions ot admoni- 
tion that the song of the vineyard was uttered. It is a 
poem of wonderful beauty. " I will sing a song of my 
beloved touching his vineyard. My beloved hath a 
vineyard in a very fruitful hill : and he fenced it and gath- 



314 "THE MORNING COMETH." 

ered out the stones thereof, and planted it with the choi- 
cest vine, and built a tower in the midst of it, and also 
made a winepress therein ; and he looked that it should 
bring forth grapes, and it brought forth wild grapes. 
And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem, and men of Judah, 
judge, I pray you, betwixt me and my vineyard. What 
could have been done more to my vineyard that I have 
not done in it ? wherefore, when I looked that it should 
bring forth grapes, brought it forth wild grapes ? And 
now go to ; I will tell you what I will do to my vineyard : 
I will take away the hedge thereof, and it shall be eaten 
up ; and break down the wall thereof, and it shall be trod- 
den down ; and I will lay it waste ; it shall not be pruned 
nor digged ; but there shall come up thorns and briars ; I 
will also command the clouds that they rain no rain upon 
it. For the vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of 
Israel, and the men of Judah his pleasant plant ; and he 
looked for judgment, but behold oppression ; for right- 
eousness, but behold a cry." Isa. 5 : 1-7. 

Here is God's vindication of himself in his dealings 
with the children of men. He means them well ; he 
would have them to be saved. "As I live, saith the 
Lord," swearing by himself because he could swear by no 
greater, " I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, 
but that he should turn from his w r ays and live." " Turn 
ye, turn ye, for why will ye die ?" In these overtures of 
mercy he is no respecter of persons. All have a fair 
chance, nothing is exacted which is not reasonable. His 
voice calls, his hands beckon ; if anybody is lost it will not 
be God's fault. Here is his appeal: "Judge ye betwixt 
me and my vineyard — what more could have been done 
that I have not done in it ?" 

It is here suggested that God has exhausted his re- 



THE SONG OF THE VINEYARD. 315 

sources, so to speak, in our behalf. Let us observe in 
three particulars what God has done to bring the human 
race up to a realization of its high destiny. 

I. The plavdi?ig of the tree. Man, as originally 
created, was in a state of moral equilibrium. He was 
innocent, but without that form of positive character which 
is the result of exercise. If he is to possess this he must 
strive for it. Fixed character is the outcome of trial. 
The tree in the garden was designed to be the touch- 
stone of Adam's character. " In the day that thou 
eatest thereof," he was admonished, " thou shalt surely 
die." He is there to obey or not This is in the ne- 
cessity of the case. It is inconceivable that God could 
have created man in his own likeness without endowing 
him with a sovereign will — but that implies the liberty to 
break the command as well as to keep it. If the man 
obeys he will be confirmed in character and fit for his 
high destiny as an heir of God. Yonder is the tree. 
Here is Adam with his free will. He has the opportunity, 
literally, of making a man of himself. As Edward III. 
said to the Black Prince, when hard pressed at the 
battle of Cressy, " Son, win thy spurs to-day," so God 
gives to Adam this opportunity. But he lost it. 

Was there anything unfair or unreasonable in this 
trial ? Was the ordeal beyond the power of this man ? 
No, the garden was full of trees laden with fruit. There 
was only one tree there of which it was said, " Thou shalt 
not eat of it." The disobedience of Adam must be re- 
garded as an utterly perverse and quite unreasonable 
thing. In spite of God's command and distinct admoni- 
tion, he disobeyed and fell. And the results of that fall 
have been transmitted to his children for evermore. How 
could it be otherwise ? Heredity is an established fact. 



316 "THE MORNING COMETH." 

Whether we like it or not, it is a tremendous fact. The 
drunkard's son suffers for his father's folly. He bears the 
shame, the poverty of it. He inherits the vicious appe- 
tite, the dimmed intellect, the seared conscience, the pal- 
sied will. Is this unjust ? Whether unjust or not, it is 
an indubitable fact. It is under this law of heredity that 
we have come by " original sin." We were there when 
Adam sinned, we were ipso facto in the garden, and could 
not but receive the taint of our father's guilt. In Adam's 
fall we sinned all. 

Thus the tree which was designed for the confirmation 
of man's character must, from our standpoint, be regarded 
as a failure. What shall be done now ? Will God give 
Adam up ? will he leave him and his children to their 
fate ? In all reason, yes ! They deserved it. But he is 
a gracious God, slow to anger and plenteous in mercy. 
He will save this man and his children yet. The world 
made for his glory shall ultimately be inhabited by a holy 
people. 

II. The giving of the law. This is the covenant of 
works. The moral law was given for the uplifting of the 
race. It was a gratuity. We are accustomed to make 
grace the antithesis of law. In fact, however, the law 
itself is free grace. It was of God's good pleasure that he 
said, " Do these things and ye shall live by them." 

Observe, (i.) The law has in it a genuine possibility 
of life. The word torah, its Hebrew original, means a 
finger, an index finger pointing to heaven. 

Observe, (2.) It is ?iaturally possible to keep the law. 
Otherwise it would have been a mockery to give it. This 
is capable of demonstration. You can lay your finger on 
no sin in all your past life and say, " I could not avoid it." 
Sin is not sin unless it is voluntary, that is to say, avoid- 



THE SONG OF THE VINEYARD. 317 

able. Every act of impurity, untruthfulness, dishonesty, 
impiety that ever was committed was wrought in pure 
perverseness, and the whole indictment of our lives is 
made up of single sins. It follows, therefore, that we 
might have kept the law. 

Observe, (3.) The law has power to save only when it 
is kept to the letter. " Cursed be he that confirmeth not 
all the words of this law to do them." Yet again, " Who- 
soever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one 
point, he is guilty of all." The strength of an anchor- 
chain is measured by the strength of its weakest link. 
Break that, and the ship is at the mercy of the storm. 
Obedience is the electric wire that binds earth to heaven. 
Cut out a single inch and the circuit is broken, the soul is 
alienated from God. 

Observe, (4.) So far as we are aware the law was 
never kept by any man. You never kept it ; you never 
heard of any one that kept it. God himself says that he 
looked down from heaven to see if there was any that 
wrought righteousness, and " Behold there is none that 
doeth good, no, not one." Paul says we are all " conclu- 
ded under sin, there is no difference ; we have all sinned 
and come short of the glory of God." 

It would appear, therefore, that the law also, as de- 
signed to bring men into the possession of positive char- 
acter, was a failure. Its value lies not in its saving power, 
but in the fact that it serves as a schoolmaster to lead the 
soul to something further on. We are accustomed to re- 
gard Moses, and rightly so, as the personation of the law* 
He did not enter into the Land of Promise. Up at the 
summit of Nebo he looked abroad upon it, the broad acres 
clothed with verdure, bathed in Oriental sunshine — but he 
could not enter in. The man who lives under the law 



318 "THE MORNING COMETH."" 

will never be saved by it. He may, like the young ruler 
whom Jesus loved, be not far from the kingdom, but by 
reason of imperfect obedience he cannot enter in. 

III. The rearing of the cross. This is the covenant 
of grace. " For what the law could not do in that it was 
weak through the flesh, God, sending his own Son in the 
likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the 
flesh, that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled 
in us, who walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit." 
(Rom. 8 : 3, 4.) He sent his only-begotten Son to make 
overtures for our deliverance, saying, " God so loved the 
world that he gave his only-begotten Son, that whoso- 
ever believeth in him should not perish, but have ever- 
lasting life." Two necessary things are wrought under this 
covenant of grace which must otherwise remain undone: 

(1.) Forgiveness. The mislived past is erased and 
forgiven. This is impossible under the law. The law 
knows no pardon, but the bleeding hand of Jesus nails to 
the cross the handwriting of ordinances which was 
against us and takes it out of the way. He satisfies the 
law by expiating our sins and thus solves the problem, 
how God could be just and yet justify the ungodly. 
The cross is the wine-press set in the midst of the vine- 
yard. Out of heaven came the only-begotten Son of the 
Father to tread the winepress alone. The wine that 
flowed forth was for our deliverance — the blood of Jesus 
Christ cleanseth from all sin — and without the shedding 
of blood there is no remission of sin. 

(2.) Justification. We need not pardon only, but a 
positive righteousness which shall entitle us to an abun- 
dant entrance into the kingdom of God. 

But this we cannot win for ourselves, it is bestowed 
upon us by the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ. The 



THE SONG OF THE VINEYARD. 319 

same pierced hand that nailed our indictment to the ac- 
cursed tree casts about us the garment of the Lord's 
righteousness, fine linen, white and clean. Thus our 
justification is completed. The watch-tower is built in 
the midst of the vineyard and God himself keeps guard. 
" No man shall pluck them out of my hand," he says ; 
" the gates of hell shall not prevail against them." " What 
shall we say then to these things ? If God is for us, who 
is against us? He that spared not his own Son, but 
delivered him up for us all, how shall he not also with 
him freely give us all things ? Who shall lay anything 
to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth; 
who is he that shall condemn ? It is Christ Jesus that 
died, yea rather, that was raised from the dead, who is at 
the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for 
us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ ? shall 
tribulation, or anguish, or persecution, or famine, or na- 
kedness, or peril, or sword ? Even as it is written, For 
thy sake we are killed all the day long; we were ac- 
counted as sheep for the slaughter. Nay, in all these 
things we are more than conquerors through him that 
loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death, nor 
life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things 
present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor 
any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the 
love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." 

As Moses stands for the personation of the law, so 
Joshua stands for the living type of grace. What Moses 
could not do, Joshua did ; he entered into the Promised 
Land and led the people with him dry shod, passing be- 
tween the crystal walls of the river ; and they took posses- 
sion of the land. 

The challenge of the Lord is therefore submitted to 



320 "THE MORNING COMETH." 

you as reasonable men, "What more could have been 
done to my vineyard that I have not done in it ?" The 
sequence of that question is another — " How shall we es- 
cape if we neglect so great salvation?" "And when the 
king came in to see the guests, he saw there a man which 
had not on a wedding-garment ; and he said unto him, 
Friend, how earnest thou in hither not having a wedding- 
garment ?" And he was speechless. " Was it not offered 
thee at the door? was it not offered for naught?" And 
the man could answer not a word. So shall they be at 
the great Reckoning who have lived in gospel light and 
yet rejected all the overtures of grace. They will answer 
not a word. How can they ? There will be nothing to 
say. 



